


I Thought You'd Never Ask

by Director_Daydream



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 67,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24533788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Director_Daydream/pseuds/Director_Daydream
Summary: Varian had never put too much stock in dreams. They had always just been distractions from work he could be doing in real life. But when he starts having recurring dreams of keys and shadows and masks, can he chalk it up to his own wild imagination, or is something deeper and more sinister going on?Eventual VarianxOC
Relationships: Varian (Disney)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16





	1. Dream On

There are dreams that could leave a person longing to return to slumber, as their wild imaginations conjured up stories and adventures that their genuine life failed to provide. Then there are dreams that have a person excited for the day to come, as that same imagination revealed to them something so wonderfully possible that they couldn’t imagine returning to bed.

Varian woke up having had the latter.

He tended to wake up earlier than most due to his father needing help with tending to their crops, but today, he was awake even earlier than usual; the sun had barely peeked over the horizon. His inspiration fought off his need for rest and had him feeling more wired than he could remember feeling in a long time.

He tossed his blankets aside and rushed to get dressed, having to backtrack to re-button his shirt when he missed several on the first try as he made his way to the kitchen to grab something easy to eat. He settled on grabbing a half loaf of bread to take with him to his lab, knowing there was a very real chance that he would forget all about it once he got started on his work.

His newest project: hot running water.

He couldn’t believe he had never thought of it before. It seemed so obvious to him now, and so simple, that it would be harder for him to ignore it than to try.

Not to mention the positive light it might cast on him with the other villagers.

He’d like to say that that wasn’t a driving force behind his determination to finish this project, but that would be a lie. He didn’t exactly have many friends in the village, since everyone found him rather strange. Not only that, but his experiments weren’t always free of collateral damage, and his father was usually apologizing to their neighbors for him.

Mrs. Eggerbeat’s chicken was still blue, and he was probably never going to hear the end of it.

But this time would be different. There was no way he could fail, and with hot water available on demand, it would change everything for everyone, and they wouldn’t be anything short of grateful.

So he plopped down on his stool and unfurled some fresh parchment to start drawing up his blueprints.

His plan would take the form of large water tanks that he would heat with a chemical reaction. The chemical would be an issue for a different day, right now his focus needed to be on the measurements and materials of the tanks themselves.

Oh, how he loved doing the math for these kinds of things.

He had the perfect spot to place these tanks, and he'd need to figure out just how much space he actually had to work with, but right now he could put down a rough estimate and make the adjustments later. The most important part was figuring out how to make the whole system sustainable.

He would have to place them in multiple spots around the village to ensure it could reach everyone efficiently, and make them easily accessible for maintenance and other concerns--

"Varian."

He nearly fell out of his seat at his father's voice, hands coming down on his desk to steady himself. He whipped his head around to look at him, eyes wide.

Sunlight poured in through the window just behind where the man was standing.

How long had Varian been planning?

"D-Dad! Good morning. I didn't hear you wake up." He stumbled, not-so-subtly placing his body in front of the blueprints so his father couldn't see.

Quirin had a history of trying to dissuade Varian from partaking in his experiments once he caught wind of them, and this project was too important for him to try to talk him out of it.

"I could say the same for you. You were up before I was. I'm surprised." Quirin's eyes moved to look at Varian's desk, noticing his posture. "You're not up to something you shouldn't be, are you?"

"Of course not! What-what would give you that idea?"

"Varian..."

"I'm just writing something down, I promise! I haven't done anything!"

He wasn't capable of outright lying to his dad while looking him in the eye. He knew he would fold if he tried, so being as vague as possible was his best bet at getting away with it.

Quirin studied him for a bit longer before shaking his head. "Well, whatever you're up to, I just wanted to remind you that I'll be gone for the festival tonight."

Oh, that's right. Every year the kingdom held a festival on the missing Princess' birthday in the hopes that she would one day return home. It was an all-day affair that ended with lighting lanterns and releasing them into the sky. Overall it was a fun festival, and Quirin was often asked to provide special crops for the event. Overall, it was an enjoyable time.

For most people.

"Oh, right! That's tonight. I totally forgot." Varian scratched the back of his neck.

Normally, he would accompany his father and stay for the festivities, but after his last mishap with the villagers, he wasn't sure they would want to see him at the moment. He didn't really want to feel their eyes on him and hear them whispering about him, so he told his father that he was going to stay home this year. His father understood and assured him that it was fine.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning, unless things finish early. I'll see you then, and please... stay safe, Varian." He said.

"I will! You have fun! Everything will be okay here, dad, I promise."

"No shenanigans?"

"No shenanigans."

Quirin squinted at him suspiciously before nodding. "Alright. Take care, and make sure you eat properly." He nodded at the untouched bread on his desk.

Varian smiled sheepishly. "I will."

With that, Quirin left the room to get ready to head towards the castle.

Varian relaxed, turning to look over his shoulder at his blueprints. "That was a close one..."

He would have to be extra careful to make sure that his father didn't find out about the tanks.

That would mean strategically placing his materials where they won't be found and keeping his plans out of his usual hiding spots. He'd probably have to make multiple trips to pick up everything he needs. Creating the chemical would be easier to hide, but everything involving the tanks themselves would be a lot more difficult to explain.

He tore a piece of bread off the loaf and popped it into his mouth as he continued to think.

He also needed to decide what kind of metal would be best to use for the tanks in the first place before he could even think about picking anything up.

This was going to be complicated.

He liked complicated.

He was about to take another bite of his bread when a sound unlike anything he had heard before hit his ears. The loud bang was accompanied by a sudden rumbling of the ground beneath him, and everything in his lab started to shake. He scrambled to keep everything on his desk from toppling to the ground, and managed to keep the chemicals too close to the edge from falling and breaking.

It all happened so quickly, he almost thought it had just been his imagination.

Once his nerves calmed, he quickly scanned his lab to make sure nothing had been damaged. Nothing seemed amiss, to his relief.

What was that?

It hadn't come from inside the house. If anything, it sounded as if it came from the outskirts of the village. That wasn't too far, and he could easily check out what was going on.

He rushed out of his house to do just that.

As soon as he closed the front door behind him, he could see smoke rising from the forest not too far from him. It didn't seem like anything was on fire, so the village wasn't in any immediate danger.

That he knew of.

He took a look around, noticing how empty the village was. Most everyone would be in the city by now, and anyone who hadn't yet left was probably still asleep. No one else was leaving their houses to see what had happened, which meant he could investigate in peace.

He took off in the direction of the rising smoke, wondering what could have possibly caused such a disturbance.

As he started down the main pathway out of the village, he noticed that the direction the smoke was coming from suggested that it strayed far from it into the actual forest, and that he'd have to navigate through the trees to reach it. He slipped off the dirt path and into the bushes immediately in front of him, trying his best not to get caught on anything.

The ground immediately became uneven beneath him, and he had to do his best not to trip over any rocks or roots he couldn't see. He struggled through the thick brush, surprised at just how difficult it was for him to push through.

He wasn't a... _physical _boy.__

After an embarrassing amount of effort on his part, he finally got through, and he moved to a more open area of the forest. Off in the distance, he could see some of the trees had been knocked over, which told him he was getting close. He headed in that direction, both excited and nervous about what he might find there.

When he finally reached it, he was definitely surprised.

There was a long trench that spanned about thirty feet in front of him. Whatever had landed there had come down hard and at an angle, that much was obvious, and it wasn't anything small. The trench was probably about two feet wide the entire way, ending only when it met the sturdy oak tree on the edge of the clearing. The tree itself was still standing, but had a very clear indent from the impact of whatever had slammed into it.

And resting at the base of the tree...

... was nothing.

There was no other trace of what had landed there. The smoke had mostly cleared by now, and there was no sign of any kind of fire.

What was going on?

Upon further inspection, it didn't seem the trench itself was all that deep, so he carefully stepped into it to see if there were any clues about what caused such damage. In all, it was probably about a foot deep, so whatever it was probably wasn't too heavy. He kneeled down to take a closer look at the dirt, scanning the surface carefully.

Nothing.

He carefully ran his gloved hand over the ground to see if it would uncover anything, but that didn't improve his luck. He frowned, standing back up and moving farther down the trench, but no matter how closely he looked, he couldn't find any hints.

He sighed and looked around again, wondering if maybe there was something further away in the clearing that might help him when he caught something glinting out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look, spotting something in the indent of the oak tree. He carefully moved towards it to take a closer look.

The small black object was wedged pretty securely in the bark of the tree. He attempted to dig it out with just his fingers, but it wouldn't budge. The object itself was flat and smooth, and his gloves couldn't get a solid grip on it. He peeled one of his gloves off his hand, tucking it under his arm before trying again. The ends of his fingers curled around the edges of the splintered bark, pulling chunks of it off bit by bit. In no time he had managed to expose enough of it that he could tug the object out without too much trouble.

In his bare hand, it felt warm, which was strange because it was clearly some kind of metal, but still unlike any material he had ever seen before. He turned it over in his hand, and noticed that whatever it was, it had broken off of something.

"Fascinating..."

Almost as soon as the word left his mouth, he heard something rustle in the grass somewhere near him. He looked up, trying to pinpoint where it came from.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

He listened closely for the following few seconds, but nothing moved. Other than the soft wind blowing in the clearing, nothing made a sound.

Had he imagined it?

No, he couldn't have.

"I'm not going to hurt you. It's okay."

Still nothing.

He frowned, propping his hand on the trunk of the tree, getting ready to lean over to check the other side of it, but the sound of voices far off behind him stopped him.

The other villagers were coming.

"Oh, no, no, no."

He pulled back from the tree, pocketing the piece of metal for safekeeping as he lifted his leg to step out of the trench.

And then promptly tripped and fell flat on his face.

"Ow..."

He picked himself up and grabbed his glove that he dropped, slipping it back on before rubbing his poor aching nose as he quickly moved to the bushes in the direction leading away from the voices. The last thing he wanted to do was cause more issues for his father, and if he was caught by the villagers at a crash site, they'd probably assume it was his doing.

Thankfully it didn't take him long to find the path back to the village, and he didn't bump into anyone on the way back. As far as getting away unseen, he was successful. He slipped through his front door without incident.

He rested his back against the closed door, sighing in relief. He took his gloves off, wiping his brow of the sweat collecting there. He reached back into his pocket to make sure the piece of metal was still there, relieved to find that he hadn't dropped it when he tripped over himself.

He held it up to the light coming through the window. It wasn't overly reflective; in fact, it was almost matte in finish. Even now, it was still warm to the touch. That either meant it took time to cool down when heated, or it was simply naturally warm.

He had never heard of such a thing before.

Could he have discovered something completely new?

His excitement from this morning lit the fire in him again, and his mind raced at all the possibilities of what this could mean.

Was it a naturally occurring metal or was it manmade?

Where had it come from?

Who had brought it here?

Too many possibilities for him to consider all at once.

He needed to sit down…

He had decided to try to return to his original project, but he found that difficult to do at first. While he knew he didn’t currently have a way of conducting efficient tests on his new prize, the thought of learning about something totally unheard of was too exciting to ignore. He had to force himself not to get distracted by fiddling with it every few minutes, and after about an hour, he was back to drawing up plans for his tanks.

It had started to get dark, so he had to turn the lamps on and decided maybe that was a good time to take a break to find something else to eat. His eyes were feeling tired from staring at his parchment for the last few hours, and he wasn’t sure he was going to be awake much longer as he sleepily reached for the fruit bowl on the dining room table. He wasn’t even totally sure what he had grabbed before he bit into it, pleasantly surprised to find it was a pear.  
He suddenly remembered for probably the third or fourth time that day just what day it was. To be fair, he’d had a rather eventful and busy day, and he wasn’t involved in the festivities like he usually was, so he kept losing track of time.

He reached over and opened up the window next to him, peeking outside and looking in the direction of the castle. He smiled tiredly as he caught sight of all the lanterns lighting up the night sky. It wasn’t the same as being out in a boat and being surrounded by the warm glow, but it was still a sight to behold even from a distance.

It was a view he would never get tired of.

He took his time to enjoy his pear, watching the lights slowly travel upwards in the sky and spreading across the open air. He found it relaxing to watch them move so casually, allowing the wind to take them wherever it pleased. He sat at the table, taking another bite as he watched them slowly make their way over the village.

It made him feel safe.

It wasn’t too much longer before he finished eating, and he decided he was too tired to go back to sketching. Still, he couldn’t just leave his plans lying around, so he had to head back to his lab to clean that up before his father came back home.

He closed the window before leaving the dining area, trudging back to his lab. Normally he would stay up all night if he wasn’t paying attention, but today had left him feeling worn out. He was actually looking forward to laying down and closing his eyes.

He found a good place to hide his plans for the time being until he was more awake to choose a better spot. His father wasn’t the type to snoop, but he had managed to stumble across a few of his ideas before, and he definitely didn’t want a repeat of that this time around.

His eyes landed on the metal piece he had placed on the desk while he worked. He wasn’t sure if it was just because it was something foreign or if it was something else, but for some reason, he didn’t feel right just leaving it lying around. He picked it up, bringing it with him.

He made it to his room and moved towards his bedside table, placing the warm material there. Pleased with its new resting spot, he nodded to himself before changing out of his day clothes and into his sleepwear.

The moment his head hit his pillow, he felt his body sink into his mattress. His fatigued mind barely processed pulling his own blankets over his body and curling up to drift off to sleep.

Last night’s dream had brought him inspiration and motivation.

Could any other dream top that?


	2. This One Can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young teenage boy in search of his oldest friend stumbles upon a new one.

A young blonde boy sighed in exasperation at the predicament he found himself in.

All he had wanted was an answer to his question; it was why he even entered the mine in the first place. But the short men he asked immediately jumped to conclusions and accused him of crimes he didn’t-- and wouldn’t-- commit. No matter how much he tried to get them to listen to him, they wrote him off as some kind of thief after the gems in their mine.

How incredibly rude.

They had run off deeper into the mine, and he had given chase, but now he was going to have to decide where to look for them first. Thankfully the area was well lit, so he wouldn’t be stumbling around in the dark.

Then again, the real struggle would be catching them, not just finding them.

Looking ahead of him, there were two options for the boy to choose from: left or right. The left option seemed to lead to a cart system, and if he wasn’t mistaken, one of the men in question was actually hiding in a cart that rode along the rails. The right path led up to a higher level with wooden boxes, and while he couldn’t see anyone, he could hear sneezing in the distance.

Something told him to head to the right.

He headed up the two small steps, finding himself in a nice, open area, exposed gems glittering from the light coming from the lanterns fixed to the walls. Directly to the right of him was a cluster of wooden boxes that looked to have been undisturbed, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were. He stepped forward to investigate, but the sound of a nearby sneeze distracted him, bringing his attention to some other boxes not too far from where he was standing.

He looked over just in time to see a box coming down to rest on the ground, completely out of place.

Maybe that was a better place to start.

As he moved to change his course, he heard an irritable grunt come from the box directly in front of him, and the next thing he knew he was being knocked onto his back as it suddenly charged him. It sped past him to the opposite side of the floor before coming to a stop, acting like nothing had just happened at all.

He wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a distraction, but it definitely worked.

He pushed himself up and got back to his feet, dusting himself off.

“Okay, hard way it is.”  
He meant to jog in the direction of the more offensive box but was stopped when he was suddenly met with a group of different beasts that seemed to grow straight out of the ground.

There were only three of them, and they weren’t very large. Their sleek bodies were a royal blue and ended in several sharp points. They seemed rat-like in nature; their triangular heads held two slanted red eyes and sported two lightning-bolt shaped “ears”. Each limb lacked any digits that most creatures would have, making them seem quite alien. The jerking motions of their heads didn’t do much to make them seem less animalistic as they looked around, quickly finding their target.

The boy took a defensive stance, holding out his hand to his side, and in a quick flash of light, a large key appeared in his hand. It was oddly constructed; it seemed to resemble a sword, with a black handle and a pale golden guard, but was clearly not meant to be held like an ordinary blade, seeing as the boy held it so the shaft was behind him. The main body was a sleek gray with three thin golden lines decorating the middle. The thin, gray teeth were connected to the end of the blade by two thin bars, arranged in a way that almost resembled a wing. The entire ensemble was topped with a keychain on the handle that comprised of a green gem settled between two coiling silver tendrils.

He quickly moved forward to meet the creatures in combat. He attacked with practiced swings, landing multiple hits on the creature closest to him with seemingly little effort, and just moments later, it disappeared in a blue puff of smoke.

As he swung at the next one within his range, it evaded his strike at the last moment by melting into the floor and smoothly moving away from him. Instead of chasing after it, he simply turned his attention to the one attempting to attack him while he was distracted, blocking the weak charge. He disposed of that one just as quickly, moving back to the last one left. It resurfaced, leaving it vulnerable, and it didn’t fare much better than its companions.

With his path clear again, the boy reassessed his surroundings. The aggressive box was in the same spot where he had last seen it, but the sneezing box was now just a few feet ahead of him to his left. The boy chose to pursue the latter, figuring it would be less painful.

He watched the box as it released another sneeze, taking note of the high arc and the direction of travel before making his move. He allowed the box to land just in front of him, bringing the large key down hard on the surface. He heard the wood creak, but another sneeze launched the box in another direction, forcing him to follow it.

After repeating this process a few more times, the box finally broke, revealing one of the bearded men. This one wore a dark brown shirt with long sleeves and long maroon pants with light brown shoes. His head was adorned with a loose dijon yellow hat, and a large enflamed nose graced his face, contrasting with his white beard. He looked ready to let out another sneeze, but he did his best to fight it in order to speak.

“Your friend! Up ahead… Ah, hold on… Ah…” He trailed off, trying his best not to let the sneeze rip out of him, holding a finger to his nose. “Y-Your friend doesn’t look so good up ahead.”

The boy blinked. “My friend?”

Did he mean--?

Before he could further question him, the man wandered towards the entrance to the mine, leaving the poor blonde to wonder who he could have been talking about. He had arrived here alone, and he had only described one person to the group of men, but none of them had been willing to talk with him.

Wait, he said they didn’t look so good.

Were they hurt?

“Terra, hold on!”

His mind raced as he ran to the next open platform, ignoring the box that had attacked him before. He had more important things to worry about at the moment.

When he reached the next open platform, sure enough, there was a mass that looked suspiciously like a person lying on the cold ground, unmoving. At first glance, they seemed to be close to his size, and he could see they had long, pastel pink hair.

Definitely not Terra.

He kept his pace and reached them quickly, finding that they were lying on their side with their back facing him. In a flash, his weapon disappeared, and he kneeled next to the body.

“Hello?” He rested a gentle hand on the shoulder in front of him. “Are you okay?” He shook them lightly.

No response.

He shook a bit harder, frowning in concern.

“Hey, wake up.”

Still nothing,

He carefully pulled back on their shoulder to turn them to rest on their back, supporting them with his free arm.

The first thing that caught his attention was the large black stretch of fabric covering the lower half of their face.

The second was that the person was clearly a girl.

His frown deepened as he studied her. Other than the top portion of her face and her neck, her pale skin was hidden. Under her long-sleeved plaid overshirt was another solid black shirt that dipped down slightly into a v shape, the color matching her gloves. She wore a pair of dark blue jeans, the ends of the pant legs cuffed to reach just above her ankles. On her feet were a pair of deep red running shoes with white trimming, clearly built for mobility instead of just fashion.

They seemed brand new.

His eyes returned to looking at her face. He could tell she was breathing now that he was looking more closely, but the sweat on her forehead seemed to suggest that she was having trouble doing so.

The mask must have been cursing more problems than they were solving.

He gently reached up, hooking his fingers into the top part of the mask, getting ready to pull it down at least past her nose.

Her eyes opened.

The icy blue color held an intensity that he couldn’t quite explain, but it succeeded in freezing him mid-motion.

It was only a second of eye contact before her leather-clad hand was on his wrist, pulling it away from her face.

The force startled him, making him yelp as he leaned back to give her space. She quickly sat up, not letting him go too far by keeping a firm grip on his wrist. Her eyebrows dipped inwardly, her discontent on display.

“What are you doing?”

Her voice was low, but not dangerous.

“I’m sorry, you seemed like you couldn’t breathe, I was just trying to help you.”

He watched her study him for a few moments before her brow suddenly relaxed. Something akin to surprise flashed across her face, and her hold on his wrist loosened enough for him to pull away from her. Her eyes looked away from him to take in the rest of her surroundings.

Her brow furrowed for a different reason.

“Where am I?”

She looked back at him.

“You’re in a mine. You don’t know how you got here?”

He watched her pat her hands over her body, looking around for something as she responded.

“No. The last thing I remember is leaving my house. Everything else is blank.”

It seemed she found what she was looking for off to her left, and she attempted to push herself up from her spot, but a grunt escaped her as she flopped back down, letting out a breath of surprise.

“Oh, here, let me help.”

He stood on his feet, holding out his hands for her to take. She didn’t hesitate to take them and allow him to carefully pull her up, steadying herself once she was upright.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” He shook his head, watching her move over to something black laying on the ground that he hadn’t noticed before. He realized it was a bag when she lifted it by its thick strap and slung it over her shoulder. “What’s your name?”

She looked in his direction again after adjusting it across her body. She looked him up and down, clearly working out with herself whether or not she wanted to share that information with him. Both her hands gripped the strap of her bag, and he thought maybe he had made her uncomfortable, but she spoke before he got a chance to say anything himself.

“Charlie. Matlock. What’s yours?”

He smiled.

“I’m Ventus. But my friends call me Ven.”

She nodded. “Ven. Thank you for waking me up.”

“Well, it’s not safe around here, I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

She tilted her head. “Not safe? What do you mean?”

He opened his mouth to reply, but he stopped himself. She didn’t even know where she was, or remember how she got here in the first place. She was probably already stressed out, would it be right to needlessly worry her by telling her about the creatures running around?

Not to mention that violent box.

“Well… I mean, you never know what could be running around.”

“If it’s so dangerous, then why are you here? You don’t seem lost.”

He puffed out his chest, resting his fists on his hips. “I can handle anything. I’m not afraid.”

An awkward silence ensued.

“... Right. Well, then, how do I get out of here?”

“Huh? Oh, well…”

He couldn’t let her head for the exit by herself. Even if she didn’t run into any problems in the mine, there was no telling if she’d be safe once she got outside.

“I can show you the way out! It’s not too far from here.”

She shook her head. “If it’s not too far, I should be just fine getting there on my own. Just point me in the right direction.”

“No, really, it’s okay. I don’t mind showing you.”

She squinted at him suspiciously, but she didn’t voice whatever thought she was having.

“I’m not going to argue. Thank you, Ven. Lead the way.”

He nodded, satisfied with himself.

“Okay, it’s back this way.”

She stepped forward to follow him when he turned around, but they both stopped when they heard a peculiar noise behind them. It came from another wooden box, but nothing had moved.

Another moment of silence passed before they heard the sound again.

“... Am I crazy, or did that box just snore?”

Ven nodded, then held a finger to his lips to signal to her to keep quiet. She obliged, watching him creep his way over to the box, the snoring continuing uninterrupted. He moved his hands to either side of the crate, taking a moment to prepare himself before quickly lifting it up, revealing a short man wearing a light tan shirt and dark brown pants. His hat was light blue, and his eyes carried tired bags, barely able to keep the lids open.

“Is it mornin’ already..?”

He yawned, passing Ventus along the way, not even sparing Charlie a glance as he meandered his way towards the exit.

There was a pregnant pause.

“Is that the danger you were talking about?”

“Huh?”

“Because I’m pretty sure that’s a horror I can handle by myself.”

He blinked.

“What? No! No, that’s not what I was talking about. I just asked them if they had seen a friend of mine and they ran off.”

That seemed to catch her interest.

“You’re looking for someone?”

He nodded.

“Yeah. My friend, Terra. He’s dressed kind of like me, with brown hair, about this tall.” He almost stood on his toes as he lifted his hand to show just about how tall his friend was. “You haven’t seen him by any chance, have you?”

She shook her head. “I was passed out, remember? I haven’t seen anything since I was at home.”

Oh. Right.

His shoulders slumped. “Oh, yeah…”

Her hand moved to touch her chin, thumb propped against the bottom with her index finger curling across the front.

“But you think maybe these men have seen him?”

“Yeah. They didn’t really hear me out when I asked, though. They all seem to think I’m here to steal something.”

She looked around the mine, taking note of the walls and the tools that were lying propped against them.

“Well, if this is their mine, I can understand why they’d choose hostility first. Someone may have stolen from them before. But still, they should hear what you have to say before jumping to conclusions.” Her hand moved away from her face as her eyes landed on him again. “We should find them all and try to explain why you’re here.”

This took him by surprise.

“Don’t you want to get out of here?”

“Sure, but my home isn’t going anywhere. Besides, you’re being kind enough to help me get out of here at all, so it’s only fair that I help you out with what you’re doing. I don’t mind if it takes a little longer.”

Ven took a moment to ponder it.

It would be easier to make sure she was safe if she stuck close to him instead of heading outside. And he could save time catching these men with an extra pair of hands helping him out.

“I could really use the help. As long as you don’t mind, then I’m okay with it, too.”

She nodded. “Alright. So where should we look first?”

“Uh… well, there was one back towards the exit, but he’s kind of… mean.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Mean how?”

“He ran at me when I wasn’t looking and knocked me over.”

She snorted.

“Alright, let me worry about the big bad box over there, then. You keep looking on ahead.”

“Are you sure? You could get hurt.”

She shook her head.

“It’ll go faster if we split up. I can catch up after I take care of him.”

She turned around to head in the direction he had come from before.

“Good luck, Ven.”

She descended to the lower level before he could stop her, but her confidence put him a little more at ease, so he didn’t chase after her. Instead, he turned to do as she suggested.

Two down, four to go.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Charlie scanned the area ahead of her, one hand moving to rub her upper arm subconsciously.

What an interesting situation this was.

Waking up in a place she’d never been before and meeting such a strange-looking boy definitely wasn’t on her to-do list for the day. How she got here was beyond her, but all she could do now was work with the hand she had been dealt and find a way to get out of it.

Her train of thought was shortlived when she heard grumbling coming from nearby. She noticed the remnants of a few crates that had previously been destroyed, and she assumed that had been Ven’s doing. She saw a lonely box sitting a few yards ahead of her, and quickly surmised that this was the one she was looking for.

“Hey. My new buddy over there said you’re being difficult. Let’s save both of us some time and not make me chase you around. What do you say?”

She got a disgruntled response.

“Watch how you talk to your elders, missy! You can’t just show up here uninvited and expect a warm welcome!”

She rolled her eyes.  
“Well, I know for a fact I didn’t come here on my own, and from the sounds of it, it seems like he’s just passing through to find a friend of his. We don’t plan to stay here. This would go a lot smoother if you would just calm down and cooperate.”

“How do I know you ain’t lyin’?! This could all be a ruse to catch us unawares!”

She breathed out in aggravation.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s your choice.”

She saw the crate shudder before it was suddenly charging in her direction. She spread her feet apart and crouched down, hands coming down on the front of the box, immediately slowing it down. The man in the box tried to push forward, but she leaned her shoulder into it and dug in her feet, and a scuffle ensued. Neither of them made any headway for several moments, both struggling with gaining the upper hand, but when she managed to slip a hand under the bottom of the box, she felt his control slip. With a sharp yank upwards, she wrenched it out of his grip and flipped the box off of him, sending it tumbling a few feet away and completely exposing him.

He was wearing a deep red shirt and a pair of dark brown pants that matched his hat. His most defining feature, though, was the angry expression that, she was sure, was a mostly permanent fixture on his face.

“I’m warnin’ ya, keep yer filthy paws off our diamonds! I’ll be watching you!”

“We aren’t here for your diamonds. All he wants is to ask you a question, and then we’ll--” She huffed when he turned his back on her and headed after his own friends, completely ignoring her.

She turned around, running a hand through her hair with a heavy sigh. She winced as her fingers brushed against a bump towards the top of her head.

That probably explained why she didn’t remember anything.

Well… that wasn’t entirely true.

Truly, her last memories were of being confused and alarmed, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what exactly had happened. Given what was happening around her now, she could only assume it wasn’t something normal.

If she hadn’t just hurt herself, she’d think she was dreaming.

She moved to lean her back against the rocky wall behind her, wincing at her protesting muscles. Whatever had happened, it had been a bumpy ride for her. Ven said there were dangers out here for her to worry about, and if she didn’t take a moment to relax, it could end poorly for her.

Ven.

He was another matter.

He clearly wasn’t being honest with her about what he was worried about, but she could tell it was out of genuine concern for her safety and not any ill intent. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to divulge that information with her, but right now she had no choice but to trust his decision to keep to himself.

Not that she could blame him. She wasn’t exactly open, herself.

But… he was nice.

She could handle trusting him.

She looked up when she heard some shuffling coming from her right. The man was rather round, sporting a yellow shirt with a red vest and blue pants. He had a kind face, contrasting greatly with the one she just had the misfortune of grappling with.

“Miss… Are you alright?”

She pushed herself off the wall.

“Yes, I’m just a little worn out. Nothing to worry about.” She looked him over. “What about you? You didn’t run into any trouble, did you?”

The man shook his head. “No, Miss. Your friend was quite gentle. He seems like a kind soul.”

She looked in the direction she thought Ven might be in.

“Yeah, he does, doesn’t he?”

“Huh? Are you saying you don’t know him?”

She shook her head. “No, sir. I just met him a few minutes ago. But he doesn’t seem to mean any harm.”

The man nodded. “I would have to agree. You don’t seem to be here to cause any trouble, either. I’m sorry if we’ve caused either of you any problems.”

Even though most of her face was hidden, her gentle expression was obvious in her eyes.

“Other than your friend in the red, it’s nothing you’ve caused. You don’t need to apologize.”

The man sighed. “You must mean Grumpy. You’ll have to excuse him, Miss, it isn’t anything personal against you. He’s just prickly by nature.”

She waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, it’s not your fault. Thank you for checking on me.”

He frowned. “Well, in any case, I’m headed to the entrance. You’re more than welcome to come with me if you like.”

She shook her head. “I appreciate it, but I promised Ven I’d meet up with him when I finished over here, so I should head over to him. I’m sure we’ll see you pretty soon, though.”

“Well, if you’re sure… Just be careful, alright? And sorry again for all of this.”

She nodded. “Thank you.” She tilted her head at him. “My friends call me Charlie. What’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m called Happy, Miss Charlie.”

She let out an amused breath. “Happy. I’ll be sure to remember that. Stay safe.”

“You too, Miss Charlie.”

He turned and made his way out, leaving her in the quiet once again.

It seemed her break was over.

It turned out the dwarves still wouldn’t hear poor Ventus out, so he and Charlie made their way out of the dark mine and into the bright afternoon sun. Charlie squinted, shielding her eyes with her hand to allow them to adjust properly as she looked around.

“Does any of this look familiar?” He asked her.

“No, unfortunately not. I come from a big city. We don’t have woods or mines like this anywhere close by.” She replied, lowering her hand. “Looks like I’m even more lost than we hoped.”

He frowned. “Well, they said that there was a cottage nearby. Maybe it’ll give us some more clues about where exactly we are? And then we can figure out how to get you home.”

She tilted her head at him. “ ‘We’?”

He nodded. “Yeah. You’re lost and don’t know anyone, you could probably use all the help you can get.”

“But you’re already busy looking for your friend.”

“We can do that at the same time. We made a pretty good team back there, maybe helping each other wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”

She looked at the ground, contemplating. “But we don’t know how far from home I am. Or if it’s even possible for me to get back at all.”

“All the more reason to help you look.”

She let out a breath, and it almost sounded like she was amused. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of it, am I?”

He grinned at her. “Nope!”

She shook her head, eyes looking like she might be smiling under her mask.

“Alright then. I help you look for Terra, and you help me figure out how to get home.” She held out a gloved hand to him. “Deal?”

He didn’t hesitate to take her hand and give it a shake. “Deal.”

She nodded and let go. “Okay. Then we should head towards that cottage they talked about. It shouldn’t be far from here, from the way they talked about it.”

With that, they started their trek towards the cottage in question.

But they didn’t get too far before some of those creatures popped up in front of them.

She took a few steps back in alarm, eyes wide. “What-- What are those?”

“The danger I was telling you about. Just stay back and let me take care of it, okay?”

Before she could question what that meant, he stepped forward and called his weapon again, and ran straight into the group of creatures ahead of them.

She watched him with wide eyes, eyes darting with his quick motions as he struck and rolled away from oncoming attacks. Everything was happening so quickly, and her mind was working overtime trying to process what she was seeing. These blue creatures, his weapon… It all made little sense to her.

She snapped out of her stupor when she saw a creature approaching her. She took a few more steps back, tightly gripping the strap of her bag. “Hey, back off.”

“I got it!”

With one single swing of his giant key, Ven vanquished the beast, and the way was clear again. He stood up straight, and in the blink of an eye, the key was gone again. “Are you okay? Did it get you?”

She just stared at him, words escaping her.

“Are you okay?”

She blinked, then nodded. “I’m fine. It didn’t touch me. Thank you.”

His shoulders relaxed. “Okay, good. Sorry, I shouldn’t have let it get so close.”

“It’s fine. But what were those things? And what was that thing you were holding?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking almost sheepish for a moment. “Those were something called Unversed. They’re creatures of darkness that are drawn to negative emotions. They infest worlds where darkness lurks. Which… is all of them. And I was holding something called a Keyblade. It’s a special weapon that fights off Unversed, but it can do other cool stuff, too.” His shoulders slumped. “I probably should have just told you about it before, but I thought maybe you were upset about being lost and I didn’t want to make you feel worse. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “No. No, I get it. It’s okay. I understand what you were trying to do. And why you didn’t want me to leave the mine by myself. I should be thanking you.”

He nodded. “Yeah. You’re not from here, so it would have been pretty bad if you got even more lost and didn’t know how to get away.”

“That was good thinking. Thanks for looking out for me.”

He smiled at her. “You’re welcome.” He looked over his shoulder. “We should probably get moving before more decide to show up. Maybe if we’re quick we won’t have to deal with them before we reach the cottage.” He looked at her again and offered his hand. “Let’s go.”

She moved to take it, but then hesitated. It had only lasted a second before she slipped her hand into his, but it was enough for Ven to notice. Her eyes were unreadable at that moment, so Ven couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but if there was a problem, she was ignoring it. He decided not to question it, since they had more pressing matters to worry about.

“Okay. Lead the way, Ven.”

He nodded before starting a brisk pace. She didn’t seem to be struggling to keep up even though she was fatigued. She had mentioned to him before their meeting with the dwarves how much her muscles were aching, so he was going to do his best not to push her too hard if he could help it. Neither of them knew what she had been through just before they met so it was better to err on the side of caution than to wear her out in a spot where she could really get hurt.

Ven had been only partially right; while they didn’t manage to completely avoid seeing any Unversed on their way to the cottage, they managed to move fast enough that they outran them. No more battles took place before they reached a serene clearing. There was a small section of wooden fence to their left, and just beyond it was a cozy looking little cabin. In front of the cabin was a bridge that led into some dark woods.

Ven let go of Charlie’s hand as they approached the small cottage, leaning forward to peek in through the window. “This must be where those little men live.”

“That’s probably a safe assumption. It seems pretty small, even for us.”

A sharp cry sounded in the distance behind them, immediately putting them both on high alert. Ven stood up straight and turned to look in the direction it had come from before looking at Charlie. “I’ll go check it out. It looks like it might be safe here, head inside and wait for me to come back.”

She nodded, not about to argue with him. “Be careful.” She said as she pushed open the small door.

“I will. I’ll be back soon.”

She nodded before dipping down to avoid hitting her head on the doorframe, taking one more look over her shoulder as he ran off into the woods.

Charlie’s head didn’t hit the ceiling by any means, but it was closer to it than she was used to. She felt extremely aware of her body in such a small space, and she didn’t like it. She eyed the chairs by the table in front of her, but for some reason, she didn’t make any moves towards it. She drummed her fingers against the strap of her bag.

She was nervous.

After a moment of taking in her surroundings, she cautiously moved over towards the fireplace, slipping her bag off and resting it on the ground. She carefully sat down on the ground, leaning her back against the wall behind her. She closed her eyes, allowing the quiet of the house to settle over her and giving herself permission to relax. She released a breath, her shoulders slowly releasing their tension.

What a day.

She opened her eyes again, fingers reaching for her mask to adjust it, making sure it was secure over her nose and mouth. Her eyes landed on the window to her right, hearing birds chirping from somewhere outside. They happily chirped along, seemingly unaware of anything in their world being amiss and going about their business as usual.

She wasn’t so lucky.

She had a lot of work to do trying to figure out where home was and how to get there. Figuring out where to start was going to be a chore all in itself, and how she was supposed to find any clues in a place like this was beyond her.

She sighed, pulling her legs up to rest her forehead against her knees. Her eyes felt tired, and she was definitely sweating. She thankfully wasn’t hungry yet, but she could definitely do with a drink of water.

She blindly reached out her arm, hand searching for her bag. She found it after a moment and dragged it closer to her, but stopped abruptly.

She hadn’t noticed it before, but it was heavier than she remembered packing it.

She pulled it the rest of the way to her, guard up. She carefully pulled the flap back, dipping her hand into the open mouth to search around. It didn’t take very long before her hand landed on something completely foreign to her. She froze, trying to assess if it was dangerous or not, but when it didn’t bring her any immediate harm, she decided to carefully pull it out.

She noticed the rich burgundy color before anything else as she pulled it to rest in her lap. She ran her gloved fingers over the curved metal, feeling no resistance from the smooth material. They dipped down to touch the large black circular portion raised from the largest flat piece. There were multiple pieces layered over each other, each one bordered with thin white trimming.

Her eyebrows raised when she realized she had seen something just like this, and fairly recently.

She sat up, lifting it off her lap and flipping it over. Just as she suspected, there was a short adjustable strap on the other side. She extended her left arm and slipped her hand through the loop of the strap, sliding it all the way up her arm until the metal covered her shoulder. She worked with the strap until it sat in place without being too tight for her to handle. Once she finished making sure it was on correctly, she looked down to examine it.

She was sure she’d remember packing a pauldron of all things.

She used the wall to help herself stand up, grunting when extending her knees too quickly. She moved away from the wall and towards the middle of the room.

Her stride stopped when the door opened without warning.

She tensed all over again as a figure stepped inside, taking a step back and turning to fully face them as the door closed behind them.

But the sweet face of the girl calmed her after she turned around.

The girl was young, probably her early teenage years. She had short wavy black hair and bright, brown doe eyes, her pale skin accentuated by the red painting her lips. She wore a long dress with a blue bodice, her puffy sleeves decorated with red teardrops, while the skirt was a pale yellow to match her slippers. Her white collar was high in the back, and a red cape flowed behind her as she moved.

The girl caught sight of Charlie. “Oh, hello. Are you the friend Ventus spoke of?”

Charlie tilted her head. “I guess? I’m Charlie. Is everything alright?”

The girl let out a sad sigh. “I’m not entirely sure. I was so frightened in the woods before Ventus arrived, and he escorted me here while fending off these terrible creatures. It’s only thanks to him that I made it here to safety.”

Charlie nodded. “I’m glad to hear you’re not hurt, but where’s Ven?”

The girl stepped closer inside. “He insisted on checking to make sure the coast was clear. Oh, I do hope he’s alright…”

Charlie moved back to give the girl more personal space. “I’m sure he will be. He seems to know what he’s doing. I wouldn’t worry about him.” She looked the girl up and down. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, I do beg your pardon. My name is Snow White. Ventus told me you would be waiting here.” Snow White dipped into an almost-curtsey. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Charlie didn’t return the gesture. “Yeah… You, too. You said you were attacked by creatures?”

“Yes, they were quite frightening. Shadows unlike anything I had ever seen, and the trees were especially unfriendly.”

Charlie’s eyebrows rose. “The trees attacked you?” She brushed some of her hair out of her face. “That… is new.”

The door creaked open again, and both girls looked over to see a familiar figure walking over the threshold.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ven stepped through the door, closing it behind him.

“The coast is clear, not a monster in sight-- Huh?”

He saw both girls as he expected, but the addition of the seven dwarves from before was a surprise to him. Charlie was standing separated from the rest of the group, probably having been seen as a threat, but she looked more annoyed than concerned.

Grumpy spoke first. “Couldn’t stay away, couldja? And who invited you in, you rotten thieves?”

Ven opened his mouth to argue, but Snow White beat him to it.

“Oh, no, he’s not a thief. He rescued me.”

The leader of the group spoke up next. “You fusn’t be mooled-- uh, mustn’t be fooled by him, princess.”

“Just go on an’ git!”

Snow White folded her hands together and pleaded. “Please, don’t send them away. You see, he helped me when I was lost, and oh, so very frightened.”

With the dwarves’ attention now on the girl, Ven dared to step closer. “What happened?”

“Well, I was picking flowers by the wood, and there was a stranger  
there. He had a sword, but it was like a key--and then these monsters came  
And--”

Charlie and Ven’s gazes met, having had the same thought.

“A sword like a key… Terra!” Ven perked up.

Terra could be nearby!

The leader spoke up again. “Ya mean this stranger saw ya and set his horde of evil demons after ya?”

“Terra would never do that!”

Snow White looked at Ven. “Oh, of course. I'm sure he wouldn't. Not if he's someone who's your  
friend.”

“Princess! You trustn't be so musting--er, trusting.”

“He's a-lyin'! Mark my words!”

Ven huffed, stomping his foot.

“I’ll prove it!”

He turned on his heel and ran out the door again.

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t leave me here!”

It was too late; he was long gone. She closed her eyes in frustration.

“And what’s yer excuse, missy? What makes you think you could just hole up here without asking first?” Grumpy crossed his arms, tapping his foot impatiently.

She opened her eyes and looked in his direction. “Ven told me to wait here after we heard a scream. I can’t fight those creatures, and he didn’t want me in harm’s way. We figured it was safe here, so I was just waiting for him to come back after he checked everything out.” She answered patiently.

Snow White nodded. “That must have been me he heard. He came to make sure I was alright. Oh, see?” She looked at Grumpy. “He doesn’t mean any harm, and I don’t think she does, either. Please, give them a chance.”

The leader looked Charlie over, humming as he considered her request. “Do you promise you’re sot up to nomething-- er, not up to something?”

Charlie nodded. “Promise.”

“Then why do ya have that mask on?”

She rolled her eyes.

“It’s to keep other people safe.”

Happy stepped forward. “Miss Charlie, are you in some kind of trouble? You don’t have people after you, do you?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s nothing like that. You just never know if you’re around sick people. And if I catch something, I don’t want to give it to someone else.”

Happy nodded, satisfied with that answer. “I think she’s telling the truth, fellas. I think we should believe her.”

The dwarves seemed to deliberate amongst themselves, murmuring to each other. Grumpy didn’t look pleased, but then again, he probably rarely did. After a bit more discussion, they seemed to come to a consensus.

“Alright, Miss Charlie. We believe you and your friend. Until he comes back, you’re welcome to stay here.” The leader looked pointedly at Grumpy. “Without hostility.”

Grumpy grumbled to himself.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

A shy looking dwarf fiddled with his hands, looking at her through the tops of his eyes. “Miss Charlie… If it’s not a bother, can we ask how you ended up in our mine? Sneezy says you were alone.”

Charlie shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s like I told Ven, before I woke up here, the last thing I remember is leaving my house. I’ve got a lump on the back of my head, so I probably hit it pretty hard. It’s most likely why I can’t remember.”

Happy frowned. “Golly, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot. You could probably do with some rest.”

She shook her head again. “I’m not feeling all that tired. I’m fine to wait until he gets back.”

Happy nodded. “If you’re sure. But don’t be afraid to say you need a nap. You can use my bed, if you like.”

“Thank you.”

She ran her fingers over the trimming of the pauldron on her arm in thought.

All she could do now was wait a little longer for him.

It was probably about twenty minutes before Ven came back through the door, but his posture didn’t give Charlie the impression that things had gone smoothly. She stood from her seat, stepping closer to him. “Did you find him?”

Ven shook his head. “No. But I found an old woman who said he pointed his keyblade at her and demanded to know where Master Xehanort was.” His shoulders slumped. “That isn’t like him at all… Why would he do something like that?”

Charlie’s brow furrowed. “From the way you talk about him, I didn’t get the impression he’d do something like that, either. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for it. You’ve only got her side of the story, after all. But did she give you any idea where he went?”

“No. She said she had no idea. I’m right back where I started.”

Ven was unsure of what to do next. It was clear to anyone and everyone that Ven greatly admired Terra, and was clearly already distressed over being unable to find him. Now, he had just heard that he had essentially threatened an innocent woman, which went against everything Ven knew about him. On top of that, there wasn’t a single clue about where he could have gone next. He could be just about anywhere in the world by now.

Hold on...

Charlie crossed her arms in front of her, tapping her finger on her elbow a few times.

“Ven… earlier, when you were telling me about those creatures, there was something you said that didn’t make too much sense. And I wanted to ask you about it.”

Ven blinked, taken aback by the change of subject. “What is it?”

Charlie looked over at Snow White and the dwarves to ensure they weren’t being overheard before continuing. She spoke a bit more quietly. “You said they get drawn in by the negativity from the worlds they infest. That makes it sound like there’s more than one.”

Ven went quiet for a moment, thinking back to the conversation. She was right; he had let that information slip. He hadn’t even noticed he’d said it at the time, he had been more concerned about keeping any Unversed from appearing and attacking them again. But she had noticed, and she figured it out.

He nodded. “Yeah… it’s supposed to be a secret, but it’s true. There’s a ton of them, too many to count. In fact, I’m not from this one at all.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured something was up. You didn’t act like you knew the area too well.”

Ven let out a short chuckle. “Yeah, not even a little bit.”

Charlie nodded. “I’m not going to ask about how all that works right now, I’ll save all my questions for later. But if that’s true, that there’s more than one world, then I think it’s possible he isn’t on this one anymore. And it seems more and more likely that mine is out there somewhere, too. This place isn’t anything like home, it feels really alien here. I think I belong here about as much as you do. So I think our best option is to look somewhere else.”

Ven frowned. “That’s a good idea and all, but how I travel, you won’t be able to come with me. You need special equipment to do it.”

“What kind of equipment?”

“It’s a special kind of armor. It’s the only safe way to travel between worlds. But you can’t just find it lying around.”

She hummed in thought, rubbing the back of her neck in thought. “So unless I can somehow get my hands on this armor, I’m stuck here?”

“Yeah” He looked at her apologetically. “I could probably--”

His idea was immediately abandoned when he caught sight of the pauldron on her shoulder. “Wait, you didn’t have that before. Where did you get that?”

She also took a look at it. “I found it in my bag. But I don’t know how it got there.”

He perked up. “This is it! This is exactly what I was talking about!”

She blinked. “You said it was armor. How could this be what you’re talking about?”

“Let’s head outside, that way I can show you. Come on.”

He was like a whirlwind; in no time at all, he grabbed her bag, said his farewells to the dwarves and the princess, and dragged poor Charlie outside before she could process it all. He took her just before the bridge leading to the woods, turning around and grinning at her.

“Okay, I’m going to show you how this works. Watch close, okay?”

She nodded dumbly, wondering what exactly he was up to.

He maintained his smile as he brought his right fist up, tapping it against the raised circular portion of his own pauldron, and in a flash of light that was almost too quick for her to see, he was decked out in a full suit of armor. The main colors were light blue and gold, and the portions that weren’t metal were black, thin red lines traveling between the different plates. Most of the metal plating was on his torso, with some plates on his knees, shoes, and forearms. He even had a helmet to go with it, with two long prongs that made it look a bit more animalistic, his visor completely hiding his face.

“... Oh. That’s… something.” Charlie looked at her pauldron curiously. “And you think mine can do that, too?”

“Yeah, probably. Just go ahead and push on that center part right there, and it should activate. Go ahead and give it a try.”

Charlie took a step back, giving herself more space. Her open palm came down on the node, pressing it like a button.

She felt the energy around her shift, and after blinking, she looked down at herself. Her armor was structured very similarly to his, with specific portions being covered over others. Her thighs weren’t plated, but had the same covering Ven’s did, but in contrast, they were white. The plating from her shoes to her knees was a deep red, with the actual knee caps coated black to match her elbows and hands. The main plating of her chest and shoulders was the same rich red as her legs and her helmet, the same two prongs as Ven’s appearing in the same spots, but angled backward so the ends were behind her head instead of above it. She had black plating along her spine, thinning out the farther down her back it traveled.

“See? Look at you! You’ve got full armor, too!” The look on Ven’s face could only be described as gleeful. His smile was so wide, most of his teeth were visible.

He was feeling much better than he was a few minutes ago.

“This is great, now you can actually come with me! We can keep our promises to each other a lot easier this way.”

She stopped checking herself out to look at him. “You’re right. We promised. And I plan to keep up my end of the deal.”

Somehow, Ven’s smile grew even wider, and he held out his hand to her.

“Come on. Let’s go.”


	3. Impossible Things Are Happening Every Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian's trip for supplies becomes much more interesting thanks to a few rumors making the rounds.

The sunlight filtering in through his window is what awoke Varian.

Letting out a sound of displeasure, he carefully cracked open his eyes, holding up his hand to shield them when it ended up being too bright for his liking. He sat up with a yawn, wiping the sleep out of his eyes, trying to get his bearings.

For some reason, he got the feeling that he hadn’t been in his own room for what felt like hours, even though he clearly remembered getting into bed. He felt like he was trying to adjust to being somewhere familiar after being somewhere foreign.

Maybe it was that dream he had.

Varian didn’t often dream. Not that he remembered, anyway. Every so often he could recall whisps the next morning, enough to have a vague idea of what he imagined in his sleep, but for some reason, every detail was clear as the day outside in his mind. He could recall how everyone looked and the minor details of the cottage, and even those strange creatures that were running around.

How weird.

He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it for any longer. After all, he had plenty of important work to do today, and he didn’t have any time to waste.

He quickly got changed, excited to get to the market to grab the materials he needed. Once he got his hands on everything and took the measurements he needed, he could really get to work.

It wasn’t until he stepped out into the living area that he remembered that he hadn’t heard his father come home.

He paused, looking towards the door. His shoes were absent, meaning he wasn’t home yet. He had said that he might not return until the next day, so he wasn’t particularly worried. If he wasn’t home by the time it got dark, he’d start to get concerned.

After grabbing everything he needed, he opened the door and stepped outside.

As usual, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The warm sun shined down on him comfortably, and he got the feeling today would be productive. He headed down the stairs with a new spring in his step, walking in the direction of the market.

“You, boy!”

He stopped cold in his tracks at the shrill voice calling out to him. At least he was pretty confident the voice was talking to him; it used both the names the villagers tended to call him. Sadly, he was used to being in trouble with them, so being spoken to like this wasn’t anything new to him.

But he really didn’t want to see this particular neighbor right now.

He turned to look in the direction of the voice, trying not to look nervous.

Or guilty.

“Good morning, Mrs. Eggerbeat.”

Mrs. Eggerbeat was a stout elderly woman that had lived next door for as long as Varian could remember. Her wiry white hair was always pulled back into a messy bun, and her dark brown eyes almost seemed black at first glance. She always seemed to wear the same dark green dress and her brown apron, at least, that was all he had ever seen her wear. She struggled to walk without her cane, which she was probably getting ready to wave in his face at any moment. She wasn’t exactly a warm woman, and even when his father ended up having to apologize to her for Varian’s many mishaps, he didn’t seem too concerned about earning her forgiveness. If anything, Quirin seemed a bit more dismissive of whatever she had to say.

In short, Varian was pretty sure Quirin didn’t like her, either.

“Don’t give me that, boy. What are you up to?”

She lifted her cane, sure enough, and pointed it accusingly in his face.

“Me? I-I was just going to the market, ma’am.”

She squinted at him, mouth stuck in its signature frown.

“No doubt planning something disruptive, as usual. You best not be up to something, like you were yesterday.”

He had been planning to defend himself, but blinked in confusion instead.

“Yesterday?”

“Yes, yesterday! I saw you running off into the woods just before anybody else went to see what was going on. You can’t fool me, boy.” She nudged his chest with the end of her cane. “I saw you with my own eyes. Are you hiding something else your father should know about?”

“N-No! Of course not. I just went to see what happened, just like everybody else.”

She eyed him suspiciously.

“I’m not up to anything, ma’am. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“You mean like I had nothing to worry about when your experiment turned my poor Heidi blue?”

He winced.

“Okay, I really am sorry about that. But I promise, whatever came down in the woods yesterday, I didn’t have anything to do with it. Not this time.”

She scowled, lowering her cane to rest it on the ground where it belonged.

“I’ve got my eye on you, boy. No more funny business. Or your father will be hearing from me again.”

He nodded.

“Yes, ma’am. Understood.”

She waved him off.

“Go on, off to wherever you were headed.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, turning around and quickly putting as much distance between them as possible.

Once he was out of her sight, he let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping. His pace was slower now, the good mood he was in now spoiled by that unpleasant encounter. Even though the villagers jumped to conclusions whenever they saw him out and about, he couldn’t blame them. Turning Heidi blue was one of the tamer accidents that he had been at fault for, and caused perhaps the least damage.

He didn’t want to think about that right now.

Mood dampened or not, this project was sure to be a success and would make up for any problems he had caused before.

The local market was bustling like any other day, and buzzing just the same. It was full of regulars haggling with stall owners over groceries, and neighbors catching up with each other.

The place was always too busy for anyone to pay him any mind, and he preferred it that way.

He quickly found his way towards a stall, deciding it would be best to get the materials as quickly as possible and get back home. If he was lucky, he would beat his father back home and wouldn’t have to sneak anything past him to hide away in his room.

Wait, but would Mrs. Eggerbeat say anything if she saw him?

That could be a problem.

Then again, she always seemed to have some kind of issue that she needed to talk Quirin’s ear off about, so maybe he wouldn’t take her as seriously if she tried to tattle on Varian. He could be safe after all.

It was a toss-up, really. It could go either way.

“You must have imagined it. I didn’t see anybody like that at the festival.”

“I’m telling you, he was real! He was carrying a large scythe and everything! And he was wearing all black, with his hood up and everything!”

“I’m pretty sure if someone like that were lurking around the kingdom, the Royal Guard would have disposed of him.”

He looked up from the wares in front of him at that.

“I don’t know, but he looked like he was up to no good. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was following someone.”

“Maybe he was there to take care of those animals running around the port.”

“Oh, that was terrible, we’re lucky they were removed so quickly. Who knows what kind of havoc they would have caused on the main streets?”

Animals? At the port of the kingdom? And a strange man in black with a scythe?

Did any of that have to do with the crash in the woods? Or was it all just a big coincidence?

“Well, everything seemed calm after that, so I’m still certain you imagined that man.”

“He was real!”

Varian shook his head. From the sound of it, maybe it was just someone’s imagination running a little wild. It’s possible the excitement of the night just got to them and they saw something that wasn’t really there. Not that it mattered, there was no way for him to confirm it, so why should he concern himself?

He had more important things to worry about.

“Why don’t you believe me?”

“You said the duck was talking, Ida.”

“He wasn’t talking, he was yelling!”

He had to keep himself from snorting.

Yeah, there was no way any of this held water. It sounded like the woman had had maybe just a little too much to drink the night before, and misunderstood what was really going on.

“If we don’t hurry we’re going to be late meeting up with George. We should really get moving.”

“Fine. But I’m telling you, I’m not crazy. I know what I saw.”

“Yes, Ida, I’m sure you do.”

He shook his head as they walked away, unable to believe what he had just heard, and even more so that he bought into the idea for even just a moment. He should have known better.

That dream really rattled him, it seemed.

He ran a hand over his face, shaking his head again.

Then again, he had left without eating this morning. Maybe he just needed to get some food into his system and he’d be thinking a bit straighter.

While he was here, it probably couldn’t hurt to grab himself something he could eat on the way back.

Luck seemed to be on his side at the moment, because Mrs. Eggerbeat was too busy feeding her chickens to notice him when he returned. Even better, his father still wasn’t back, so he was able to move everything without any problems. He managed to get everything into its proper place, nice and hidden from sight. Things were looking better again, and his good mood was back now that he had a full stomach, too.

He was excited to get to work.

He figured now was a good time to get a proper look at the space he was planning to use for these tanks. He could easily slip underground without being seen by anybody, and now that he wasn’t carrying all those materials, he’d look a lot less suspicious.

He had just finished slipping the tools he would need when he heard the front door open, surprising him.

He headed into the living area to greet his father, who didn’t even bother to take his boots off. “Hey, dad, you’re home!”

Quirin shook his head. “Yes, but I can’t stay for too long. The king is extending the festivities for another week. I need to get to work on getting more crops ready to be delivered.”

Varian blinked. “Wha-- another week? Why?”

This had never happened before. The festival only ever lasted a single day, and once the lanterns were lit and sent off, usually things wound down and the kingdom would rest for the night.

Something must have happened.

The warm smile that grew on Quirin’s face cut through the obvious fatigue he was feeling. “Varian, the princess has been found. She’s returned to the kingdom.”

Time felt like it stopped in that room as Varian processed what his father said.

Princess Rapunzel had been missing longer than Varian had been alive. He’d been told that the lantern festival was held on the missing princess’ birthday in the hopes that maybe if she was still out in the world, still alive, she would see it and find her way home. Every year, it seemed a little more hopeless, as the clues to her whereabouts ran dry, and the Royal Guard had nothing to go on.

In a way, it was just a story to Varian. Since she went missing before his birth, the princess seemed almost fictional, and never actually felt real. Of course she was real, there was no way she wasn’t, but having never seen her, and not having any tangible view of her other than the posters he saw as a child, she almost felt like a character in a fairy tale.

But this was real. This was happening.

She was home.

“R-Really? Dad, that’s incredible news! I can’t believe it! What happened, does anybody know?”

Quirin motioned for Varian to sit with him at the table, which he eagerly did. He was practically bouncing in his seat as he waited for his father to tell him what he knew.

“That’s partly why I’m so late getting back. They had the royal physician look her over after she told them her story. It turned out she was actually at the festival last night and nobody even knew.”

Varian’s mouth dropped open. “She was there? Has she been going every year? This whole time and no one knew it was her?”

Quirin shook his head. “No. She said a woman had been keeping her isolated in a tower that’s well hidden just outside the kingdom, and that until yesterday, she had never set foot outside of it. It seems she met a group of people that helped her reach the kingdom in order to attend the festival. She insists they were the reason she was able to return this morning, after learning the truth of who she was.”

Varian remembered hearing about the suspected kidnapper. There never seemed to be an agreement on who the person was or what they looked like, so looking for them was a big reason they had to stop actively investigating. Without an idea of who they were looking for, there was no hope of knowing when they found them.

“Did she know why she kidnapped her?”

This woman never left any demand for a ransom for the princess’s safe return, so there must have been some other reason.

“It seemed that her hair held some kind of… magical healing property. The woman was using it to stay eternally young, according to the princess.”

Varian raised his eyebrows.

“Dad, magic isn’t--”

“I know, I know. But it’s what she claims, and her companion insisted she was telling the truth. We only have their word to go on. Either way, the princess is home and is safe. And the king wants to celebrate the return of his daughter.”

Varian grinned. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. It didn’t seem like it was possible that the princess would ever return, yet here she was. Of course the kingdom would celebrate something so wonderful.

“That being said, I’ll be busy this week with delivering crops for the festivities. I could use your help loading everything up when I’m here, if you don’t mind giving me a hand.”

Oh, right. Quirin had his work cut out for him if this party was going to go on for an entire week.

“Yeah, of course! I’d be glad to help. Just tell me what you need and I’ll get on it.”

Quirin nodded. “Thank you, son. I’ll need all the help I can get. I’ll get started, and you can meet me outside when you’re ready. With your help, this won’t take much time at all.”

They both rose from the table and headed in different directions, Quirin back out the front door and Varian to put his tools down. His dad was going to be doing a lot of traveling, he would have plenty of time to worry about measuring without getting caught.

This was much more important.

Working with crops was tiring work.

By the time Quirin was finally loaded up and headed out of the village again, the sun was going down, and Varian’s arms ached. Even though he helped his father with the crops every now and then, he didn’t do it often enough for his muscles to be used to the labor.

He was exhausted.

He knew he probably wasn’t going to be able to get to measuring his workspace before the end of the day, so he was already planning to put it off until tomorrow. And with his father out of the village more often than usual, he’d actually be able to handle working on his project without feeling like someone was breathing down his neck. Sure, Mrs. Eggerbeat could threaten him again, but with his father absent, there wasn’t really anything to worry about.

Varian sat on his bed to rest for a moment, but after a short pause, he felt his body flop backward and lay on his mattress, letting out an involuntary groan. He spread his arms out, trying to ignore the throbbing in his muscles.

Maybe he should help his dad more often so he didn’t always hurt like this afterward.

He turned his head to look at the strange metal still sitting where he left it on his bedside table. With all the excitement of the day, he had almost forgotten about it. He groaned again as he reached over to pick it up with his now bare hand, bringing it close to examine it again.

Somehow, it was still warm to the touch. There was no way it was residual from the crash, it had been over a full day at this point. It could only mean the heat wasn’t from an external force, and was actually emanating from the material itself.

Incredible.

He had never heard of anything like this before. None of his books described anything remotely like it, so it was becoming increasingly likely that he had stumbled upon something completely new. That was exciting enough, but it would be even better if he could actually learn more about it.

How hot did it have to get before it would melt?

What does it do when it’s frozen?

What’s it actually made of?

Can he manipulate it into any shape he wants, or would it break before it would bend?

There were too many tests to run.

Maybe he could come up with a system that would cleanly provide him with results without having to manually write them down.

That was another good idea.

He seemed to be full of them lately.

An even better idea at the moment, he thought, would be to close his eyes for just a minute.


	4. A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ven and Charlie find themselves in a world that seems... Larger than life.

Ven’s arms were crossed as he impatiently paced back and forth, looking both very frustrated and very confused. His brow furrowed as he looked at the ground while he walked, passing Charlie, who seemed much less stressed with her back leaning against what looked like a set of iron bars, her own arms crossed across her chest. She watched him as he went for another lap, then turned her attention elsewhere, taking in her surroundings.

They seemed to be in a long metal tube made of thin iron bars. It was tall enough for them to comfortably move around in but barely wide enough for them to stand next to each other without some kind of discomfort.

“What is going on?”

She shook her head at his question. “You’re the one who’s supposed to be the expert.”

Her tone held no accusations or blame, but it did nothing to help his current mood. He turned to the set of bars in front of him, gripping them in his hands. He started shaking them roughly, the bars lightly rattling.

Charlie shook her head again with a sigh. She looked back at the large wooden structure to her right outside of the cage, which seemed to belong to an enormous side table, one that was several times larger than the both of them.

In fact, everything in the room looked much too big.

“Can someone tell us how we got so SMALL!?”

Ven hung his head, clearly feeling defeated. Charlie took this moment to really take him in.

Ventus was about her height, but the blonde hair on his head spiked upwards, making him seem a little taller than he really was. He had friendly blue eyes that clearly spoke whatever emotion he was feeling, making it hard for him to truly hide anything. His short-sleeved was two different colors split down the middle; white decorating the right side and black filling in the left. On his left wrist, he had a black and white checkered band. The vest he wore under his jacket sported vertical white and dark gray lines, casting his torso under the same illusion as his hair in making it seem longer than it was. Under the shirt, he had plates of armor matching the pauldron on his shoulder, which was larger than hers and protected all the way down to his elbow. His pants were layered black, gray, white, and black again from top to bottom, the ends hugging his legs at mid-shin. The mouths of his large shoes also appeared plated in armor, and were gray and black in color.

Charlie opened her mouth to respond to him, but she was interrupted by the sound of someone entering the room.

Ven stepped back as a woman walked up to their prison, kneeling down to grasp the handle atop the cage and lifting it, supporting it with her other hand. The movement was still too sudden, causing both teenagers to attempt to catch their balance. The woman tilted the cage even farther, and Charlie had managed to hook her fingers around one of the bars, but this victory was short-lived as Ven unfortunately stumbled and rolled backward into her, knocking them both to the back of the cage with a grunt.

The woman pulled open the door to the cage, smiling kindly at them. “Don’t be afraid.” The look on her face quickly changed to one of surprise, though, once she got a good look at them. “Oh. How interesting… I’ve never seen mice like you before.”

Ven lifted his head from his palm upon hearing that, turning his attention to the mysterious woman. “Mice?”

Charlie winced as she attempted to slip her shoulder out from under Ven, trying to give both of them more room. “This must be a mousetrap. We’re lucky these aren’t like the ones back home, we might not be standing here talking right now.”

Before Ven could ask her what that meant, the woman spoke again, but not to them. “Jaq, you better explain things to them.” She lowered the trap to the ground, which allowed them to stand level again, but not before knocking them around first. Ven instinctively reached out and grabbed hold of Charlie’s arm to steady them both, but to his surprise, she recoiled and yanked it away.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

A figure moved around the opening of the trap, but it definitely wasn’t human, regardless of the fact that it was wearing clothes. The brown mouse barely came up to their shoulders, causing him to look up at them once he stepped inside. His hat, shirt, coat, and shoes were all different shades of red. His narrow face was framed by large ears, and his smiling mouth was joined by his two front teeth, which were too large to be hidden away.

“Now, now, now. Look-a, rake it easy. Nothin’ worry about. We like-a you. Cinderelly like-a you, too. She’s-a nice, very nice nice.” He turned to look up at the woman, who smiled back at him. “Come on now. Zugk-zugk.”

Ven looked at Charlie curiously when Jaq turned away from them. Charlie gave a noncommittal shrug, and they both followed the mouse out of the trap and onto the open blue carpet.

Jaq turned around to look at them again. “Name-a Jaq.” He said.

“I’m Ventus. Call me Ven. And this is Charlie.”

Charlie nodded from behind Ven.

“Zugk-zugk, Ven-Ven. Need-a sudd-a? Ask-a Jaq.”

The woman smiled fondly down at the two teens getting along with their new acquaintance. Her long blonde hair was held back by a pretty blue bow that matched her kind eyes. She wore a simple brown dress with long light blue sleeves, a crisp white apron tied around her waist. She blinked when a voice called out from somewhere in the distance.

“Cinderella!”

“Oh well. Time to get to my chores. I’ll see you in a little while, Ven, Charlie.” She stood up and made her way out of the room with some haste.

“Wow, I guess she’s got her hands full,” Ven said once she had left, looking at Jaq.

“Yep, work, work, work! Stepmuddy keep Cinderelly busy all day.” Jaq replied, clearly annoyed.

“She didn’t seem to mind much, though.”

“No, nots-a Cinderelly, she work-a hard. Got a dream, big dream. Dream gonna come true.”

Ven smiled to himself. “That sounds like somebody I know.” He perked up, getting an idea. “Hey, maybe you can help us find him! His name’s Terra. You seen him?”

Jaq looked apologetic, bowing his head and looking at Ven through the tops of his eyes. “Eh, no no. Never saw Terra ‘fore.”

“Oh well. It was worth a shot.”

Jaq quickly returned to his normal demeanor. “Come on, follow me. Gotta see da house.” He headed toward one of the walls.

“H-Hey!” Ven broke into a jog to keep up with him, Charlie following not too far behind.

Jaq disappeared into a hole at the bottom of the wall, one that was big enough for both Ven and Charlie to easily walk into themselves. They passed through the walkway, taking in the new scenery.

The space behind the wall was narrow, as expected, though there was still plenty of room for them to run around in. There were a few raised platforms, seemingly made of stone, resting against the walls. Stray spools of string were strategically placed in front of them, clearly meant to allow the mice to climb to different levels for easy traveling. Directly ahead of them, Jaq had climbed an especially tall platform to reach a hole high above their heads. It would be difficult for the two of them to follow as quickly.

Ven stepped up to the stone obstacle before them, tilting his head in thought.

“Do you think if I lifted you up, you could pull me up after you?”

Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “I think so. If not, we could try it the other way around.”

Ven nodded. “Good point.”

He kneeled down, lacing his fingers together and holding his hands out to allow her to step into them.

“Alright, ready when you are.”

She hesitated, carefully reaching out to rest her gloved hand on his shoulder to keep herself steady while she moved her right foot to rest in his open palms. With a small hop, she lifted her left foot off the ground at the same time he lifted upwards. He was just tall enough that she was able to get both arms over the ledge, and she hoisted a leg up before pulling herself the rest of the way onto the new surface.

“Nice!”

She gave him a quick thumbs up as she turned around, moving into a kneel of her own. Her hair fell over her shoulder as she held her hands out at the ready. “Okay, your turn.”

Ven grinned, taking a few steps back.

With a bit of a running start, he lifted his feet off the ground, managing to get a few steps along the firm wall in front of him before reaching up and catching her offered hands, allowing her to pull him up the rest of the way with relative ease.

“There we go! Now we just have to do it one more time.”

She nodded, looking at the other wall in front of them, which didn’t look to be too much taller.

“Piece of cake.”

In no time at all, they scaled the last wall and made their way after their new friend out the exit.

The new room was much smaller than the one they had first landed in, and was most definitely a bedroom. The bed and dresser rested against the farthest wall from them, with a small nightstand with a lit candle between the head of the bed and the doorway. Directly in front of them stood a large blue partition next to a torso mannequin with a dress. Beyond it was a small vanity and a chair, with a large ball of red yarn sitting beside it.

Charlie pointed ahead of them at the open window beside the vanity. “There he is.”

Sure enough, Jaq was sitting on the windowsill, looking at something outside.

“Nice job. Come on.”

They made their way across the room, with Charlie’s eyes drifting over to the dress as they passed it. The top was a soft pink color with short puffed sleeves ending with some ruffles, with the bottom half complementing the top with a crisp white long fanned skirt. The middle was divided by a pink ribbon with a bow tied in the back.

It wasn’t anything flashy, but it was still rather nice.

“It’s kind of weird.”

She looked over at Ven at the sound of his voice, finding him looking back at her. “What is?”

Ven smiled, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked up at the dress.

“Being so small. I’m not used to feeling like this. And having everything so out of reach.”

Amused, she shook her head.

“I come from a family with a lot of really tall people, and I’m definitely the runt of the litter, so feeling small isn’t anything new for me. Everything in the house is pretty much level for their comfort, so there’s a lot of high surfaces. I’m used to not being able to reach anything, but I also don’t like having to ask for help whenever I want something. I get yelled at a lot when I get caught climbing counters and chairs.”

Ven chuckled. “No wonder we got up those ledges so fast. You’re a pro.”

She nodded, her eyes smiling along with him. “I guess you could say that.”

Ven grinned back at her.

“Good to know. Come on, he’s waiting for us.”

She nodded, following him over to the steps in front of the dresser. They allowed for a conveniently easy path to the window, which they took advantage of.

Charlie looked up once Ven finished pulling her up, blinking when she saw the view.

“Wow…”

It was clear from their climbing between the walls that they were no longer on the first story of the house, but it still was a surprise just how far below them the ground was. It was also dark out, they day long over, but the evening must have still been young if there were still chores for Cinderella to do. The woods in front of them stretched over beyond the hills rolling in the distance, leading to a brightly lit white castle that contrasted with the night sky above it and the dark forest below it.

“What’s that?”

“That’s the palace-- the King’s palace. Gonna be a big ball tonight.”

Charlie managed to tear her eyes away from the castle to look at Jaq. “Is Cinderella going?”

Jaq sighed, almost exasperated. “I don’t know…”

The sound of the door opening behind them caught their attention, and they turned just in time to see Cinderella finish stepping through and closing it behind her. She offered them a warm smile.

“Hello, you three. Have you become friends already?”

The three of them looked at each other, and after a moment of thought, nodded in unison.

Cinderella moved over to the dress Charlie had been looking at before.

“Oh, that’s wonderful.”

She turned her attention to the garment, straightening it out with her hands. She started to softly hum to herself as she carried on looking it over, the smile never leaving her face.

“You sure look happy, Cinderella.”

She turned around to look at Ven. “Mm, I’m going to the royal ball tonight.” She let out a happy sigh, clasping her hands together joyfully. “I guess dreams really do come true.”

“Cinderella!”

She visibly flinched, looking in the direction of the door. The voice had been sharp and impatient.

“My dress will have to wait.”

Two more voices called her name, different from the first one.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming!”

Cinderella made her way back out the door to attend to whatever the voices needed from her.

“Poor Cinderelly, she not go to da ball.”

Ven looked at Jaq. “Why not?”

Charlie crossed her arms. “It sounds to me like she’s up to her ears in chores. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re keeping her busy on purpose to keep her from going.”

Ven looked at Charlie, surprised. “You really think they’d do that?”

She shrugged.

“Just a hunch.”

Jaq perked up. “Say, got an idee! Ven-Ven and Char help-a Jaq?”

“With what?”

Jaq bounced on his heels excitedly.

“Fix-a Cinderelly dress for da ball!”

Ven crossed his arms, unsure. “But, what do we need to get?

Jaq waved his arms. “Rook around da house. Lots-a pretty pretty things!”

Ven turned his gaze to Charlie, silently asking if she was okay with helping out. She nodded, and Ven turned back to smile at Jaq.

“Okay, let’s do it. We’ll go find whatever we need. Jaq, you get things set up here.”

“Yuzzah!”

Ven hopped down onto the closest step of the dresser, turning to offer his hand to Charlie to help her down. Normally, he would have just jumped down to the floor, but he didn’t want her to feel left behind.

She gratefully took it and carefully stepped down, allowing him to help her all the way down to the floor.

“Ven-Ven, Char, carefy Rucifey!”

Ven furrowed his brow. “Roos-a-fee?”

“Rucifey a cat-cat! Meany, sneaky! Jump at you, bite at you!”

Charlie waved to Jaq.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.”

Jaq waved back as they turned to start their search for the supplies they needed.

The only problem…

“I have no idea what to look for. Do you?”

Charlie shook her head, amused.

“He probably wants us to find things to adorn it with. It looked like it was pretty much structurally done, so he probably wants to decorate it and make it stand out more. It looked a little plain. So maybe some ribbon and fabric, maybe a button or two.”

“Huh…”

She hummed curiously at him. “What?”

“Nothing. You just really seem to know what you’re talking about. Do you have a lot of experience with that kind of stuff?”

She shrugged, waving her hand in the air in a ‘so-so’ fashion.

“Yes and no. I can’t sew anything to save my life, but I’ve worn plenty of costumes.”

“Really? What for?”

She went quiet for a moment as they hopped back down to the first floor between the walls.

“It’s part of a hobby of mine. Something I do for fun. Well, did. It’s been a little while since I last got to do it.”

Ven frowned. “Something you don’t have time for anymore?”

She didn’t meet his eyes when they were back on solid ground.

“No. Just… a lot of things had to be put on hold for a while. So I just have to wait to do it again.”

Ven could tell she was being intentionally vague with her answers. He couldn’t blame her, really. She woke up in a place that wasn’t her home and had to rely on a stranger to help her and protect her from creatures that could appear out of thin air. It was probably going to take some time for her to get truly comfortable with him to go into detail about herself.

“I have another question.”

She squinted at him playfully. “Is it about the mask?”

“No. Well, I mean, of course I want to know about that. But no, that’s not what I’m asking about.”

She chuckled. “Alright, then go ahead.”

He smiled. “What kind of name is ‘Rucifey’?”

She snorted, trying not to laugh too loudly, but her eyes gave away how funny she thought the question was even if he couldn’t see her smiling.

“Well, if I had to guess, that’s probably not his actual name.”

Ven snickered. “Why do you say that?”

“Because he hasn’t said our names correctly since we got here.”

He laughed, nodding. “Do you think all mice talk like that, or just him?”

She chuckled. “I don’t know, but the longer we take to find this stuff, the more likely we are to find out. Come on, let’s get moving.”

“Alright, alright.”

They both returned to the room they had first arrived in, and being free from the mousetrap made it feel like an entirely different place. There was a lot more room to run around in, making them feel much more relaxed as they explored.

"I think it's a good idea for me to hold onto anything we find. If we run into more of those things, you'll be busy taking care of them. It'll be easier if you have your hands free." Charlie offered, scanning the room for any sign of something they could use.

"That makes sense. How much room do you have in your bag?" Ven followed her lead, though he was more concerned with any unversed that might be running around.

"It's a little more than half full, but if we really need to, we can just leave what we pick up with Jaq and get back to looking." She perked up, pointing at the small loveseat across the room from them. "I think I see something over there. We should go take a look."

Ven nodded. "Okay. It doesn't look too high, either. We should be able to climb it without any problems."

Charlie returned his nod.

Neither of them moved.

"That's a lot of open space. Seems like there's a lot of places they can pop out of." She said, adjusting the strap of her bag to better sit on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll stick close. I won't let them get too close to you." He gave her a reassuring smile. "We can handle it."

She blinked.

"What? No, that's not--"

Whatever she was prepared to say was cut short when they were suddenly crowded by black and blue.

They stumbled back, trying to put some distance between themselves and the creatures, Ven holding out his hand to call his weapon to him.

They were clearly unversed, but their form was unfamiliar.

They were rather tall, and simply put, looked like giant boots. They were mostly black, the main exceptions being a blue strap across their middle and silver soles. Blue, spherical heads poked out from the top, adorning two horns much like the rodent looking ones in the previous world, but their red eyes held a more somber expression.

Across their front was an interesting symbol bordered in more silver.

Ven moved his free arm to his side and in front of Charlie. "Stay behind me."

She wasn't given much time to react before one of the shadows went on the offensive.

The one closest to them suddenly hopped high into the air, high enough that it surprised the both of them, before quickly coming back down, narrowly missing them as they moved out of the way. Unfortunately, they chose different directions, and the rest of the pack quickly cut them off from each other.

"Charlie!" Ven attempted to find her again, but was quickly blocked by another boot that tried to get a piece of him, forcing him to back up again.

He wouldn't be of any help to her if they took him down.

He moved to swing at one, but found the Keyblade bouncing right off as it ducked its tiny head into the mouth of the boot, seeming to create a magical barrier around itself.

But that meant it wasn't attacking him at the moment, which he would consider a win.

He blocked another attack, trying to figure out the total amount of unversed that were trying to surround him while hoping that more were focused on him than there were on Charlie.

His end count: too many.

He tried to fight off the feeling of being trapped, but it was becoming more difficult by the second. If he didn't think of something fast, he wouldn't ever be able to get out of it.

"Heads up!"

He heard the sound of a collision directly in front of him, but he couldn't see anything. Whatever it was had caught the attention of the shadows and caused them to scramble away from him.

Ven's jaw dropped open.

A large ball of yarn rolled around in front of him, knocking into the boots, either knocking them out of the way or making them dissolve altogether.

On top of the yarn ball was Charlie, moving her feet to roll it in the direction of her choosing.

She bumped into another boot, making it disintegrate before coming to a stop. Her hands moved out to her sides to stay balanced.

"Don't just stand there."

He blinked, snapping his attention back to the shadows that were left. She had taken out a few, and the number was much more manageable.

He stepped forward, slashing at one that was distracted by Charlie's new weapon.

It didn't take long for them to clear the area.

Once the last one was disposed of, the ball stopped moving again and Ven dismissed his keyblade.

He looked up at her. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

She carefully sat down on the ball, looking over the side. "No, I'm okay. They were all pretty much focused on you."

His shoulders relaxed, relieved that she was alright.

"Okay, good."

He reached out, carefully poking the ball. "I never would have thought of using one of these. That was some pretty quick thinking."

She rested her hands on either side of her, carefully adjusting herself to stay balanced.

"Thanks. I wasn't totally sure it would work, but at the very least, I was out of their reach."

He smiled, dropping his hand back to his side.

"It was a good idea. You actually got me out of trouble."

His shoulders slumped.

"Even though I said I wouldn't let anything get too close."

She shook her head. "I was trying to tell you before that I wasn't worried about anything hurting me. I was more worried about getting in your way."

He blinked. "In my way? What do you mean?"

She looked down at her feet, absently bumping her heels against the yarn.

"I don't want to be a liability. You're trying to help me, and I'd feel really bad if you got hurt and it was my fault. I was afraid I'd cause you more problems than you already have."

He frowned, tilting his head as he looked at her.

"You're not causing problems. In fact, you just fixed one. I would have been a goner without your help back there."

He smiled.

"And you're helping me find my friend. So it's not like I'm doing all the work."

She ran a hand through her hair.

"Are you sure?"

His smile widened.

"Positive!"

She looked at him, and the smile on his face seemed to satisfy her because he saw the tension slowly leak out of her upper body.

"Alright."

She looked around the room.

"I definitely think we can use that lace over on that couch. But I also think I can see something over on the top of that pile of boxes over there." She motioned to the stack that sat across the room from them. "I can probably reach it myself with this ball. Can you grab the lace while I go take a look?"

He nodded, grinning as he watched her carefully stand back up. "You got it. Just be careful."

"I will. After that… I'll probably have to bother you after all." She said, running her hand through her pink hair again.

He tilted his head curiously at her. "Bother me? With what?"

She scratched at her cheek, not looking at him. Was it just him, or did she seem a little more flushed than usual?

"I don't know if I can get back down."

After helping Charlie get down from the top of the yarn ball, Ven had found another hole in the wall on the opposite side of the room as the one that led to Cinderella's room. The inside of the wall showed that the climb would be a bit more complicated than their last.

"If you want to stay down here, it's okay. I'll check everything out and then come right back." Ven said, studying the passageway.

Charlie shook her head, crossing her arms. "I'm going to at least try. I'll never learn to do this kind of stuff if I just sit out, right?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Well… you have a point. We'll just be extra careful going up."

She leaned back to attempt to look towards the top of the passageway to see where they needed to go. “That might be easier said than done, but upwards on onwards we go.”

Ven took the initiative and stepped forward, moving around the overturned teacup directly in front of them. He was tempted to climb onto it to try to get a better look at the next level, but he could easily just climb the small step that was only a few short steps away. It didn’t require any actual climbing, thankfully, and upon stepping onto higher ground, they were surprised to be met with a fork sticking out of a beam in the wall.

“That’s kind of weird, isn’t it?” He looked to Charlie.

She nodded. “I would say so. How do you think it ended up there?”

He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it was an accident.”

She looked up again, taking in the new view. “Maybe not. Look at how high up everything is now.” She pointed above them towards the wooden platforms that were far beyond their reach. “No amount of lifting could get us up there.”

“Do you think they… jump up there?” He scratched the back of his head.

“Maybe. We can find out right now.”

He blinked as he watched her approach the handle of the fork. “Are you sure?”

She pressed a hand down on the utensil to test its stability, satisfied when it didn’t give way. “You’ll catch me, right?” She lifted her gaze and looked over at him. “If I fall?”

“Yeah! Of course I will. You can count on me.”

She nodded, resting her hand on the beam beside her to stabilize herself as she stepped onto the end of the fork, carefully moving both feet so they were firmly planted before letting go. “Okay, so far so good.” She let out a breath as she looked up again, trying to gauge where she needed to land. “Next is…” She trailed off, taking in a deep breath as she bent her knees, allowing the fork to dip and give her a small bit of air when it snapped upward again.

“It’s okay so far?”

“Yeah. Just like a trampoline.”

He smiled, watching her jump to get herself higher in the air. She seemed much less cautious, and he wondered if maybe she was smiling under her mask.

Maybe she could start having a little fun instead of worrying.

She looked up, seeing just how close she was getting to the platform, and with one last large push, she was launched high enough to let her grab the edge with both hands. But she came down faster than she anticipated, and she couldn’t get her legs up in time, forcing her to cling to the edge, feet dangling below her.

He felt a flush of panic wash over him as he moved under her without thinking. “Charlie! I’ve got you!”

He heard her grunt, silently glad she didn’t look down at him as she instead chose to throw her right leg up, catching the platform and pulling the rest of her body up and over the side. She rolled onto her back, hands on her stomach while she tried to catch her breath.

“Are you okay?”

He could hear her heavy breathing even from so far below her.

“I’m fine, just a little close for comfort.” She pulled herself up to look over the edge at him. “It’s your turn.”

He ran a hand through his hair, sighing in relief before taking his place on the silverware. It only took him a few hops of his own to reach the platform, easily landing on his feet next to her.

She scoffed. “Showoff.”

He chuckled. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He held out his hand to help her get to her feet, which she allowed.

She brushed her hands on her jeans. “Yeah, I’m fine. I promise.”

He wasn’t so sure she was telling the truth, but when he opened his mouth to question her, a voice from beyond the wall stopped them both in their tracks. It was muffled, but it was clearly a woman’s voice.

It sounded like Cinderella.

What was she doing?

“Is she singing?” He asked, looking at the wall the sound was coming from.

Charlie moved closer to the wall, turning her ear to it to hear better through the wooden barrier. “Yeah, it sounds like it.” She raised her eyebrows. “She’s really good.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah, come listen for yourself.”

He moved past her to take his spot next to her by the wall, moving close enough to press his ear against the surface. Sure enough, the words became clearer and he could make out what she was singing, her voice light and sweet.

Charlie pulled back and crossed her arms. “That song is actually familiar. I know that one.”

He almost gave himself whiplash, turning his head so fast to look at her. “Really? Does this world look familiar, too? Close to home?”

She shook her head. “No, unfortunately not. We don’t have any castles anywhere close to us. And we definitely don’t have talking mice.”

Ven deflated. He wanted to find Terra badly, but he also wanted to get Charlie home as soon as possible. She must have been missing her home, her family, all the familiarity. He wanted to get her back where she belonged.

He didn’t want her feeling out of place or homesick.

“But, it’s a good song. It brings back good memories.”

He blinked, wondering if she could somehow read his mind. “Really?”

She nodded, adjusting her mask to fit more securely over her chin and jawline. “Yeah. That was just the pick-me-up I needed. I’m ready to keep going if you are.”

He smiled. “Are you sure? We can take a break if you need to.”

She waved it off. “I’m fine. Hearing something familiar gives me hope that maybe we’re closer than we thought we were. I’m okay to keep moving.”

He leaned away from the wall, standing upright. “Yeah! I’m sure you’ll be home in no time.” He took a few steps in the direction he hoped would lead where they needed to go, not looking over his shoulder as he continued. “And I’m sure your family will be really happy to have you back. I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

He missed her fiddling with her gloves, clenching and unclenching a fist as she followed him.

“Right.”

Luck had been on their side, for the most part. Everything they found managed to fit in Charlie’s bag without issue, allowing her to keep everything secure and without having to sacrifice her mobility, and they were able to collect a good variety of items to bring back to Jaq. All they had to do was make their way back the way they came.

Their trip down between the walls was much easier than the trip going up, and they found themselves back in the large room in almost no time at all.

But there was something very different about it this time.

Charlie grabbed Ven’s wrist to stop him from taking another step. She pointed ahead with her free hand, staying as still and as quiet as possible

Lying just ahead of them was a very large cat.

He wasn’t just large due to their shrunken size; he was rather round. His fur wasn’t sleek, but it was clean, with his paws, stomach, and the tip of his tail a nice tan color. His muzzle was an off white, contrasting with his red nose. The rest of his fur was dark brown.

He sat curled up against himself, sound asleep.

“That must be who Jaq was warning us about.”

Ven perked up when he noticed something else. “Hey, look.” His voice was hushed, motioning to the large blue pearl directly in front of the cat’s nose.

Charlie shook her head, voice low to match his volume. “It’s too much of a risk. I think we’re good with what we have. Let’s just quietly move around him and get back to Jaq.”

Ven pulled his arm away, grinning as he held his finger to his lips as he looked over his shoulder at her. He ignored her when she shook her head again, taking careful, exaggerated steps over to the large beast. Once in front of him, he tested the waters by waving a hand in front of his face.

It didn’t budge.

So far, so good.

Ven gingerly brought his hands down on the pearl, trying not to make too much noise. He felt the cat exhale through his nose, hitting him with a gust of warm air, reminding him of just how close he was to danger as he very carefully lifted the bead off the ground. He paused, watching to see if he disturbed the cat.

Still no sign of waking up.

Satisfied, Ven turned around, walking the bead back to Charlie, grin back on his face.

His victory was short-lived, however, when he saw how wide her eyes were as they looked not at him, but beyond him.

He stopped, turning to look behind him.

Impish green eyes peered down at him with an unsettling gaze, made more sinister by yellow sclera.

For a moment, nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

He raised a paw, ready to bring it down on the poor boy.

“Zook out! Rucifey!”

Two yarn balls came crashing down from the sky, making the cat rear back and away from the sudden assault.

Jaq stood on one of the tables, holding another ball above his head in both hands. “Flurry, flurry, Ven-Ven!”

Ven wasted no time moving away, tucking the pearl under his arm and taking off towards Charlie. He reached out with his free hand to grab hers, pulling her after him. He was thankful to feel her keeping pace with him, the exit, and safety, within sight.

A large slam made him skid to a halt, turning in time to see that the cat had slammed straight into the table, knocking Jaq off balance and onto the ground below. The cat crept towards the poor mouse, cornering him.

Charlie turned to look at Ven for just a moment before collecting the pearl from under his arm. “Go!”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

Ven ran back, calling his keyblade to him as he closed in, leaping forward and bringing it down on the feline’s nose, making it scramble back with a cry.

Ven put his body between Jaq and the cat.

“Ven-Ven!”

Ven looked over his shoulder at Jaq. “Go with Charlie to safety. I’ll hold him off.”

Jaq didn’t argue and ran off in towards the nearest hole in the wall.

Ven gripped his Keyblade tighter, bending his knees in a defensive stance as he watched the swish his tail back and forth, waiting for his next move.

It came quickly when he charged directly at him.

Ven easily moved out of the way, putting some distance between them as the animal kept running until it slammed headfirst into the wall that had been behind Ven just a moment ago, disorienting himself. Ven changed directions and ran back when he noticed the opening, jumping as high as he could to hit him in the face.

With a loud cry, the cat snapped out of it, getting back on all four feet before swiping at Ven.

Unfortunately, Ven was just shy of getting clear of the quick paw, getting knocked several feet back, barely avoiding hitting his head against one of the balls of yarn that Jaq had tossed.

He looked up just as the feline leaped from a table to try to body slam him, rolling out of the way just in time, feeling the ground shake under his feet.

He moved in the opposite direction, quickly passing the yarn ball as the cat got back on his feet to give chase.

It didn’t last long when the yarn ball was suddenly barreling towards him, hitting him square in the nose.

Ven stopped running, turning in surprise to see Charlie with her foot raised, having just kicked the ball in the cat’s path, stopping his pursuit. “What are you doing here? This is dangerous!”

She moved her hands to her hair, pulling it back to fix it into a ponytail, pulling it through a black scrunchie he didn’t notice before. “Maybe, but he can’t focus on two targets at once. We can confuse him.”

Ven went to argue, but instead grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way of a set of claws swiping at her. “Just make sure you stay on your toes.”

“I can do that.”

He let her go, moving in one direction as she moved in another.

The cat turned his back on Ven, choosing to focus on Charlie instead, leaving him wide open. Ven took advantage of it, rearing back to wind up before sending his Keyblade spinning through the air, slamming into one of the cat’s back legs. It yowled in pain and surprise, crumpling temporarily.

This strategy could really work.

Ven climbed up on his back while he was low enough to the ground, but had to grab hold of his fur when he cried out again and started to flail. Ven held on for dear life as he started to run around, bucking and kicking to try and get him off.

Ven saw another wall approaching quickly, letting go just before the cat slammed into it again, knocking himself unconscious. Ven took a moment to look around, seeing Charlie moving behind another ball of yarn to prepare to send it flying when the time came. He took note of where she was hiding before turning to assault the animal again. It took longer this time, but eventually, he came to again, and Ven took off towards the yarn again.

He ran past the one he knew Charlie was hiding behind, giving her a thumb’s up as he did so. She took this as a signal, kicking the ball forward, hitting her mark, and knocking the cat over again.

The poor thing couldn’t catch a break.

Charlie took off towards another yarn ball, boldly reaching a hand out and brushing his whiskers to get his attention and force him to follow her.

Ven couldn’t help but notice how much slower the cat was moving.

Instead of following after them, he instead held his Keyblade level with the floor, focusing on pointing the end towards the poor cat trying to keep up with Charlie. He focused harder, feeling energy move from his body into the tip of his Keyblade, charging up as he found the spot he was looking for before finally letting loose several star-shaped bursts of energy to fly across the room, slamming into the cat’s side.

Charlie heard a loud thump behind her, making her stop running and turn to see the beast slumped on the ground, totally down for the count. She stayed on guard as she watched it, making sure they had actually worn him out before relaxing her shoulders. She hunched over, resting a hand on her knees as she caught her breath, her other hand instinctively reaching up to move her mask, but she stopped herself, deciding instead to leave it alone.

“You were right. That was a really good plan.”

She looked up, seeing Ven smiling at her as he tried to level out his own breathing. She let out a huff of amusement, standing up straight again.

“I’m useful when I want to be.”

He chuckled. “Thanks for your help. It probably would have taken me a good while if I tried to handle him on my own.”

She rested her hands on her waist. “Don’t mention it. Besides, I haven’t run around this much in a while, I was due for some exercise.” She joked, looking around. “Jaq headed back upstairs, he’s safe. I gave the pearl to him before I came back out here.”

Ven smiled, finally breathing normally again. “We should go let him know we’re okay. And also help him finish the dress for Cinderella.”

She nodded. “Yeah, he’s probably worried about us.” She looked in the direction of the path to Cinderella’s bedroom.

A soft whimper escaped her, alarming Ven.

“What? What’s wrong? Did he hurt you? Where?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine I just…” She sighed, sounding defeated.

“I really don’t want to have to climb after all that.”

Cinderella returned to her room, crossing to the window opposite of the door. Her movements were sluggish and unenthusiastic, almost as if she was wandering more than moving with intent.

She was tired.

“Oh, well… What’s a royal ball?” She sat on the steps to her dresser, looking out the window. “After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull and boring… and completely…” She sighed, resting her elbow on the windowsill and her chin in her palm as she gazed longingly at the castle. “... completely wonderful.”

Who was she kidding?

“Cinderella!”

She blinked and lifted her head, turning to look across the room towards where her partition stood, only to be struck momentarily speechless when the wings unfolded to reveal a garment she almost didn’t recognize.

“Is that my dress?”

The blouse no longer had sleeves, instead it was held together by a pair of white straps that allowed a tasteful dip, the bust adorned with a darling pink bow that was lighter in color than the fabric beneath it. The middle was decorated with a light pink sash to match the bow on the blouse along with two bows on the skirt. The bottom of the skirt was white to pair with the straps, the bottom no longer fanning out but rather flaring out.

“Yes. It’s a present from us. Now you have a dress for the ball.”

Cinderella’s eyes moved to look at the three smaller beings standing below her dress, gaze landing on Charlie.

Charlie rubbed the back of her neck almost shyly. “You work really hard, Cinderella. You deserve something nice.”

With sudden newfound energy, Cinderella lifted herself from the steps, making her way over and kneeling, holding her hands out to them. They carefully stepped onto them, and she slowly raised them to hold them at eye level. “Why, it’s… it’s such a surprise.” She smiled at them, unable to truly put into words how touched she felt. She could feel her heart swelling in her chest, her eyes welling with tears--

“Hurry, hurry! Time-a go, Cinderelly!” Jaq urged, speaking with his hands.

“Oh, thank you.” Her smile grew wider, watching as Ven folded his hands behind his head, looking satisfied while Charlie completely avoided her gaze.

She carefully moved them over to the window, allowing them to step down onto the sill as she moved to get ready.

With nothing else to do, the three sat down to look out at the wonderful view, Ven and Charlie leaning back on their hands.

“Jaq-Jaq hope-a Cinderelly dream come true.”

Jaq turned to look at his two new friends. “Whats-a Ven-Ven and Char dream?”

Charlie watched a shooting star sprint across the sky.

“Huh? I wonder…”

She looked over at Ven, seeing him deep in thought, as though he were remembering something. She tilted her head at him.

“Funny… I’d never really thought about it. At least until you asked me.”

He held out his hand in front of him, allowing the Keyblade to appear.

“My dream is to become a Keyblade Master.”

Jaq nodded. “Hope-a Ven-Ven dream come true, too.”

Ven dismissed the Keyblade, lowering his hand with a smile. “I just need to keep believing, right?” He turned his attention to Charlie. “What about you? Do you have a dream?”

She looked back at the sky, unsure of how to answer. “I think I did, once upon a time. But it was so long ago, I don’t remember if it was a fleeting thought or if I really had my heart set on it.” She sat up, leaning forward and hugging her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them.. “You know what they say about dreams, after all.”

“No, what do they say?”


	5. Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian's free time away from his father isn't off to a good start.

Varian could already tell before he opened his eyes that today was not going to be a good day.

He came to this conclusion when he tried to roll over, only for his muscles to scream at him and lock against his will, forcing him to rest on his back. He groaned, deciding life needed a pause button so he could start the day whenever he wanted.

Who died and made the sun queen, anyway?

He sighed, keeping his eyes closed for a moment longer. He didn’t have the strength to lift himself out of bed just yet; in fact, part of him worried if he’d be able to get out of bed at all today.

This was why he needed to help his dad more. That way when he had to help with large orders for parties that last a week he wouldn’t be totally destroyed the next--

His eyes snapped open.

His father was at the castle for the next week.

Varian was alone.

By himself.

Unsupervised.

He sat straight up, only to let out an embarrassing whimper as his muscles reminded him why he wasn’t moving in the first place. He flopped back against his mattress, cursing all the physical activity he would have to get around to today.

Was this how Charlie felt after running around Cinderella's house all day?

His brow furrowed.

He'd had recurring dreams before, but typically they were the same dreams playing over and over in his head and not happening in a sequence. And they most definitely weren't that easy for him to recall so clearly.

It almost felt as though he was actually there himself.

He shook his head, sighing again.

They were just dreams. He shouldn't allow himself to get too invested in them.

They weren't real.

He took a deep breath before pushing himself off the mattress, ignoring the fight his body put up to keep him in place, finally managing to sit up properly before letting out all his air in a big puff.

He felt a weight drop into his lap, causing him to look down.

He'd fallen asleep holding the metal from the forest.

He reached down to carefully pick it up, looking at it as he turned it over in his hands. He was dying to find out what it was, where it had come from, why it ended up where he could find it.

He liked the way it fit into his hand.

He shook himself out of the trance he had put himself in. He didn't have time for daydreaming. He had to start moving the materials underground while he had the chance.

He'd have to worry about it some other time. He had work to do.

He took a closer look at his nails, noticing the dirt and grime that was caked under them from working yesterday before noticing his skin was also stained from soil and sweat.

Ugh.

But first, a bath.

He couldn't wait to finish his tanks.

After drying off and dressing himself in fresh clothes, his muscles were feeling much more agreeable and gave him less grief when he headed to his lab. His joints were still feeling a bit stiff, but the pain had mostly subsided to a dull throb if he leaned a little too far in one direction. Which was good, considering he had a ton of metal he had to haul around across several trips underground.

Without being seen.

By Ms. Eggerbeat, particularly.

Why didn't he just do this yesterday when he first bought it?

He sighed, running a gloved hand over his tired face. He knew he had a tendency to get so excited about his projects that he didn't always think logically about detail, and sometimes he ended up creating extra steps for himself that he could easily avoid.

Though he was rather distracted by that strange rumor he overheard at the market.

Talking ducks? Please.

He shook off the strange thought, peeking out the window to see if anyone was walking around that might give him an earful about what he might be up to.

He couldn't see anybody.

He moved to where he hid all his supplies, pulling all of it out to rest across the floor. Since his dad wasn't home, he wouldn't have to worry about him walking in and catching him, which was a huge weight off his shoulders. He didn't have to rush, meaning he could be extra careful about keeping a look out for people outside.

He decided he would start with the smallest materials first just to make it easier on himself.

He gathered what he could easily carry, stuffing what he could in his bag so he'd be less conspicuous. Once he was satisfied with his current load, he took one last look outside.

The coast was clear.

He headed out the door, trying not to make it obvious he was up to something just in case somebody ended up spotting him.

The nearest entrance to the underground wasn't too far, thankfully, but it wasn't in the most opportune spot.

He had to pass Ms. Eggerbeat's house to get to it.

He slowed his pace, hoping he looked like he was just going for a walk as he got closer to her home. She had already said she was going to keep a close eye on him, so he hoped she wasn't home to give him the third degree. He held his breath as he passed in front of her yard, waiting for her to come shuffling through her front door to squawk at him about being up to no good or to tell him to stay away from her poor chickens.

He released it when he got by without incident.

He made his way through the tunnel leading underground, pulling the materials out of his bag as he went since he no longer had to hide them from sight. He reached up to light the lamps that were already set up along the path, walking farther and farther in before he found the perfect spot.

There was a nice wide open space that would be the perfect spot for the first tank, maybe even two if he was lucky.

He'd start here.

He put down the load he was carrying, certain that nobody would find it. It was an old mine that had been abandoned for years, and no one came down here anymore. Kids stayed away due to the warnings from their parents about possible cave-ins, so he had the place completely to himself.

He finished emptying out his bag, nodding to himself before heading back outside.

Now would be the trickier part.

The rest of the materials were much bulkier and he wouldn't be able to hide them easily. He would have to keep a very serious eye out for anyone who might end up telling his father about what he was up to.

After all, his father had told him to stay away from the mines, too.

He could try to head towards the other entrance since it was in the opposite direction, but it would take longer to reach and he might get caught by somebody else. But it could be worth the risk, since Ms. Eggerbeat would try to get him into trouble without a doubt.

Not that anyone in the village was a fan of his.

Maybe he should just take the risk of going the shorter way again. He had luck the first time around, hopefully it would hold up for the rest of the day.

But if she wasn't home, she could come back any--

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a chicken clucking at his feet.

He looked down, seeing familiar light blue plumage peck around happily near his boots. He relaxed, smiling.

"Oh, hey, Heidi."

Heidi cooed back, hopping up to sit on his left foot.

He had really felt guilty about his experiment that went less than smoothly, which led to the poor chicken being stained blue. It had been several months since then, and it was partly why Ms. Eggerbeat was so hostile towards him, but it seemed Heidi didn't share the same disdain for him that her owner did. In fact, she seemed to be rather taken with him, which didn't make much sense to him.

Maybe it's because he had earned a matching streak in his hair at the same time.

He had thought the effects would only be temporary, but that apparently wasn't the case. His hair had continued to grow, and Heidi had even gone through her annual molt, but the blue stuck to both of them.

One day he'd have to see if he could reverse it.

But not right now.

He reached down to carefully pet her. "Sorry, Heidi, I'm really busy today. I can't play with you right now." He said, moving his gaze to the front door of the house of his least favorite neighbor.

Heidi's infatuation with Varian was not helpful.

He carefully moved her off his foot, ignoring her sounds of protest, gently placing her on the ground again.

He huffed when she hopped right back on.

"Heidi, seriously. I'll bring you some pumpkin later if you let me go. But I can't stay here."

He moved her again, and this time she stayed put. He pet her once more before heading back home.

Now he was making deals with chickens.

He shook his head as he walked through the front door, wiping his brow. He was thankful for the change of weather; the last few weeks had been warm, but it was now starting to cool as autumn was getting ready to creep in. Yesterday would have been a lot harder if it was still boiling outside.

He wondered how the party was going.

A shuffle from further inside his house made his heart stop.

He was on high alert, shoulders tensing. When his heart started pounding again, it was in his ears and his throat, and he tried to fight off the lightheadedness the adrenaline was giving him.

Another shuffle.

He hadn't imagined it.

He looked around the room, looking for something he could use, if not to fight off whoever was there, then to at least give himself a better sense of security. He spotted a broom two paces away from him, and he took hold of it, pulling it to hold it to his chest.

It wasn't helping.

He heard a thump this time, making the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

If he wasn't mistaken, it was coming from his lab.

His father's cart wasn't outside, so it definitely wasn't him, meaning it was an intruder of some kind. The neighbors didn't like him, but they chose to steer clear of him instead of antagonize him.

Unless they recently decided to change their minds.

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat. His feet felt like they were made of lead, almost completely unresponsive when he told them to move. He had to force himself to quietly slide closer to the door leading to his lab, tightly gripping the broom handle. 

His knuckles were probably white.

He flinched at the sound of another thump, hoping that if it came down to it, he could just scare off whoever was in there. If it really was a neighbor, they would probably run at the sight of him, which would be easier on him.

The memory of the woman in the market flashed through his mind.

A man in black with a scythe.

What if he was real?

What if he was here?

He willed his hands to stop shaking and for his lungs to let him breathe. He quietly leaned against the wall, feeling his body repeatedly heat up and cool down, his hair feeling damp from all the sweating he was doing.

He felt sick.

He took in a slow breath through his nose, letting it out of his mouth just as slowly before pushing himself off the wall again. Whoever was in there, he couldn't just let them stay there. He had to confront them.

He rested his hand on the door, screwing his eyes shut. "Come on, Varian," he said quietly to himself. "You can do this. On three. One…"

He moved his hand to the doorknob.

"Two."

He turned it.

"Three."

He quickly threw the door open, ignoring the loud slam from it swinging so far open that it hit the wall. It worked in his favor, though, as it startled the intruder.

On his desk, a small masked face peeked its head from the other side of his equipment.

He stared at it, stunned.

"A raccoon?"

The bandit chittered curiously at him, tilting its head. It shifted, turning to face him, bumping into a clean beaker and knocking it close to the edge.

"Hey, no, careful!"

This frightened the wild animal, and caused it to suddenly scramble off the desk. Varian dropped the broom and dashed to his desk, managing to catch the glass tubes before they could shatter on the ground, but not before throwing himself across the surface of his desk to get to them in time. He grunted, pulling himself back up to place them in a safe spot and locate the nuisance in his lab.

He spotted a ringed tail poking out from behind a box full of chemicals he had just purchased the other day.

Highly volatile ones.

"Don't. Move."

He very slowly pulled himself off the desk, inching his way over to the abandoned broom a few feet away from him. He didn't want to make any sudden moves that would cause the raccoon to panic.

He managed to reach it after a long moment, slowly bending down to pick it up. If he could just nudge it away from the bottles, he could try to find a way to get it back outside.

How did it even get in in the first place?

He looked around, kicking himself when he was the open window across the room.

He needed to be more careful about that from now on.

His eyes moved back to the box, less than happy to see that it hadn't moved away on its own.

He should have put the bottles on the shelf when he first got home with them.

He would have to be very, very careful.

He slid his feet across the stone floor, hoping he didn't end up moving too fast. He gripped the handle, turning the bristled end towards the box and the creature, hoping to urge it away without any damage to either of them.

He had been right.

Today was not a good day.

As soon as the raccoon caught sight of the broom, it lost all its composure. The moment it knocked into the bottles, Varian heard the glass break. He let go of the broom to reach into one of the pockets of his apron to pull out a cloth to cover his nose and mouth just as the contents spilled onto the floor. A foul smell filled the room, and he heard the claws of the raccoon scrabbling on another table, probably trying to escape the sudden smokescreen filling the room.

Varian moved to the closest closed window, throwing it open to air the room out. He tried to breathe in through the cloth, but the smell was pungent, and he ended up coughing instead. He stuck his head out the window for some fresh air.

How did Charlie manage to climb and run and jump with a mask on all day?

After a few minutes, the smoke cleared, and he made sure to close and secure the windows this time. He turned to assess the damage.

His heart dropped when he saw almost every bottle empty.

The chemicals themselves weren't exactly expensive and were easily replaceable, but that meant he had to take another extra trip to the market he didn't want to make.

He could already feel the judgemental eyes on him again.

He sighed, getting up to clean it up.

By the time he managed to get everything off the floor and the room to stop smelling so badly, he took a look around the room again. He still had a lot of metal he needed to move underground, but right now he didn't have the energy for it. Luckily for him, none of the materials for his tanks had suffered any damage from the chemical spill, but they had gotten moved around during the scrambling.

How he managed not to trip over it when heading to the window, he'll never know.

He sighed, trudging back out of the lab. Right now, he didn't even want to look at what he still needed to do.

He decided to put some food in his stomach instead.

He wasn't particularly hungry, but he knew he was likely to forget to feed himself later once he got back into the swing of things, so he figured he'd just make a small sandwich to hold him over until he was done.

He sat down at the table once he finished making it, taking a bite a while he thought over how eventful his day had been so far.

It wasn't even noon yet.

He sighed, taking another bite as he leaned back in his seat. He rubbed his eyes with his bare hand, suddenly feeling fatigued.

He still hadn't fully recovered from helping his dad the day before, and his body was already begging for him to rest. But he couldn't afford to waste more time; he needed to get everything underground. Once he was done he could crash in bed again, and tomorrow he had to go back into town to replace everything he lost today. Some of them were going to be used for the heating of the water in the tanks, so he couldn't put it off for too long.

He tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

He had too much to do with the little free time he had.


	6. I Know You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie has greatness thrust upon her

A long, narrow hallway with stone walls and floors tiled with alternating yellow and green squares was where Charlie and Ven found themselves, wandering past the occasional blue tapestry and mounted torch. The air felt entirely too still, and the lack of any sound other than their own footsteps coupled with the random shadows dancing on the walls from the flames lighting the way didn't make the place feel all that inviting. Charlie couldn't help but look over her shoulder, feeling small at how empty everything felt.

Or maybe it was the fear that it actually wasn't.

"Still no sign of Terra…"

She turned her attention to Ven as he spoke, feeling relief at the sound of something other than her own breathing under her mask. "It would be a lot easier if there were people around to ask, but it feels like the place is deserted."

Ven frowned as they hit a dead end. "You're right. It does. I guess when I think of castles, I think of them as busy places with a lot of people." He crossed his arms, looking around.

"I don't like it."

He blinked and looked at her, seeing her nervously gripping the strap of her bag. "You don't like quiet?"

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

Her eyes avoided his.

"Because then it suddenly isn't."

He tilted his head at her, unsure of what that meant. He meant to ask for clarification, but he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye.

A door.

"Hey, let's take a look in here." He pointed, looking back at her again. He was surprised to see that she had stepped closer to him but decided to keep his thoughts to himself.

She looked at the door, brow furrowing in thought for a moment before she finally nodded. "Alright. But we should still be careful. People might think we're up to something if we get seen."

"Huh? Why would they think that?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him incredulously. She breathed out through her nose, causing the mask to slightly puff up from the hot hair.

"Oh. Right…"

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, choosing to ignore his blunder by stepping over to the door and carefully opening it. He motioned for her to step in first.

She pulled her bag more securely over her shoulder before stepping through, Ven following behind and closing the door just as quietly as he had opened it.

It was clearly a bedroom; there was a bed with a purple canopy directly to the left of the door. Wooden paneling reached halfway up the wall to meet the familiar stone, paintings decorating the walls. Across the room was a marble entryway, though it wasn't obvious what was on the other side just from looking. Just past the bed was a large window, allowing natural light to filter into the room.

Ven looked around and frowned. He was pretty sure he wouldn't find Terra in here, and there still wasn't anyone around for them to ask.

His eyes landed on the bed, and he was surprised to see it occupied.

"Huh?"

Charlie looked over to watch him tiptoe towards the bed, also taking notice of what was on it.

Resting peacefully on her back was a woman with long, blonde hair. Oddly enough, she didn't seem dressed for resting. Instead, she wore a rather forward-looking purple dress with white trimming that ended just under her shoulders, and a golden necklace that matched the crown sitting atop her head. Her eyes were closed, and her chest barely moved with her soft breathing, clearly in a deep sleep.

Ven carefully leaned over her to take a closer look, intrigued.

"Don't be creepy." Charlie hissed at him, trying not to wake the sleeping woman.

Ven turned his head to deny any wrongdoing, only to almost jump out of his skin in surprise.

"Stop! You get away from her!"

Charlie's body jerked forward before turning around, backing away from the sudden voice behind her.

There were three short women behind her, all dressed identically save for the colors of each of their garments. All three wore coned hats that were held in place with sashes that sat tucked under their chins, all accompanied by gray hair. Their dresses were accompanied by matching capes, each held secure with either oval, square, or triangular buckles. The one in red stood between the blue and green one, seeming to be the one in charge.

They all looked at the two of them expectantly.

Ven chose to speak up first once he felt his heartbeat even out. "Oh, I'm sorry." He took a step forward, rubbing the back of his neck timidly. "It's just, I've never seen anyone so beautiful." He said with a smile.

Which was immediately wiped off his face.

He turned to look at Charlie, looking panicked compared to her now composed demeanor. "Wait, I mean, not that you--"

She dismissed his stammering. "You don't even know what I look like. Relax."

Ven chuckled nervously, embarrassed.

The red-clad woman surprised them by lifting off the ground and floating closer to them, circling them suspiciously. She stopped in front of Charlie, looking unimpressed. "And just why are you covering your face like that, young lady? Do you have something to hide?"

Charlie leaned back when the woman leaned in to look at her face more closely. "No, ma'am. I've been around some people who were sick, and I don't want to potentially give it to someone else. It's just a precaution."

Ven watched the short woman study Charlie for a moment longer before nodding, satisfied with her answer. She moved back to look him over instead, and it was then that her light red wings became visible. "Who are you?"

He followed her with his eyes until she settled beside him at around eye level. "I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven. And this is Charlie."

Charlie nodded, offering a small wave at the mention of her name.

The green woman spoke up next. "Oh… you don't seem bad, dear. I'm certain you have pure hearts, just like our precious Aurora."

"Can you tell us why she's sleeping?" Ven asked them.

They all turned their gazes to Aurora, looking morose. "Long ago, Maleficent cursed her. Now she's stolen her heart."

Ven looked to Charlie, wordlessly asking the question on his mind. She nodded, and they both crossed their arms at the same time as he turned back to face the women in front of them. "Well then… why don't we go get it back for her?"

The green woman shook her head. "That's impossible, dear. Maleficent's home is at the Forbidden Mountain. It's not safe."

"Yeah, and the name Death Valley hasn’t stopped hundreds of people from living there," Charlie quipped. "I'm not worried."

"Yeah, I'm not afraid. We can't just leave Aurora like this." Ven agreed. "We can help. You gotta believe me. C'mon, let's go get her heart."

There was a moment of silence as the three women mulled over the idea. The red woman spoke first, seemingly convinced. "You know, you're absolutely right. The Forbidden Mountain is through the forest. Come along-- follow us. After all, we wouldn't want you to get lost."

Ven perked up, turning to look at Charlie again as the women headed out the door. He was glad they managed to talk them into letting them help.

"Come on, let's go. We got this."

He turned back around and followed the women out the door, hearing Charlie following not too far behind. She closed the door quietly behind them, making him look over his shoulder at her. "It doesn't sound like she's going to wake up, I don't think you have to be so careful."

She looked back at him. "That doesn't mean I should just go around slamming doors. Just because I don't have to be considerate doesn't mean I shouldn't be."

Ven tilted his head, then smiled. "That's a good point." He said.

He paused, his eyes landing on her face.

"Kind of like how you wear your mask to protect other people..?"

She rolled her eyes, but she didn't actually seem bothered by his segue. "Yes, just like the mask."

Ven frowned. "You said people are sick back home?" He started down the long hallway with her. "Is it bad?"

She nodded. "It's a new virus, so we're still learning how to fight it off and get rid of it, so until then, we need to be careful about catching it and spreading it to other people. I live with my grandparents, and if they catch it, they'll likely die, so our family has to be extra careful."

Ven couldn't hide the alarm in his voice. "They could die? That's awful…"

Charlie nodded. "No one goes outside without a mask on, and everyone stands six feet away from everyone else. You also don't leave the house unless it's totally necessary. Some of us haven't left the house in months."

Ven frowned again. "That sounds really lonely. So you probably haven't been around strangers in a really long time. I mean, until now."

She ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah. It's been weird being around people I don't know. It's been so long, it almost feels like none of this is real. So I'm sorry if I act a little weird."

Ven shook his head quickly. "No! No, it isn't weird. It actually makes a lot of sense. I kind of felt like you were afraid of touching me sometimes, but if things are that serious for you back home, then I get it. You're used to trying to keep people safe, so it isn't anything personal, right?"

"Of course not. You've been nothing but nice to me." She confirmed, stopping at the top of a long staircase leading down into a throne room. She reached up and adjusted her mask. "It's just that the way we take care of people has changed over the last several months. The best way to show people you care about them and respect them is to keep your distance. But at the same time, what we're doing here doesn't really leave room for that. So I'm fighting my new conditioning that tells me not to get too close." She sighed. "It's frustrating."

Ven smiled at her. "Well, I won't take it personally if you try to stay in your own space. But it's also okay by me if you don't. That virus isn't out here, so whatever you're comfortable with is the right answer. Okay?"

He could tell she was smiling under her mask just by the look in her eyes. "Thanks, Ven. I appreciate it. I'll do my best."

He grinned, playfully motioning for her to go down the stairs first. "After you."

He was rewarded with a chuckle as she rested her hand on the handrail. "Why, thank you." He watched her carefully walk down the staircase.

So many questions were answered from that conversation.

It explained why she seemed so hot and cold when it came to standing close to him or touching him. He was under the impression that she couldn't seem to make up her mind, and now it seemed like she really couldn't. She was trying to ignore everything she had learned to protect the people important to her in order to help him.

It also explained why she was so concerned about not being in his way when they were helping Cinderella.

She wasn't holding him at arm's length because she didn't care about him.

She was doing it because she _did._

Maybe it was just because of their deal, or maybe she was really starting to see him as a friend, but either way, she said standing back was a sign of respect when it came to fighting off the spread of the virus, and that part he couldn't ignore.

He was hoping it was the latter.

Leaving the castle grounds led them to an open field, high ledges creating borders and dividing the walkway into different sections. To their right was a calm blue lake, which dissolved any sense of urgency and created a relaxing environment.

Ven looked at Charlie. "We could take a break here, if you want. It seems like a good place to stop."

She shook her head. "I'm good to keep going, don't worry."

She looked over at the lake, and he could see her mask move with every breath she released from her nose.

"Is it uncomfortable?

She blinked, looking back at him, briefly confused. "What, my mask?"

He nodded.

"It's definitely inconvenient. It keeps air in really well, so it moves the material when I breathe out. A lot of the time, I can feel it slipping out through the top and hitting me in my eyes."

Ven made a face, shaking his head. "That sounds like it could get annoying."

She nodded. "It gets old fast. But it's nothing I can't deal with."

Ven nodded. "You can tell me if you get tired, though. We can take a break whenever you want."

__"I'll tell you if I need one. But I'm good for now, I promise." She assured him._ _

He smiled. "Okay, if you're sure, then let's keep going. I bet it's a straight shot from here, I'm sure we'll get there in no time."

His optimism disappeared when the field open was suddenly full of unversed.

Charlie stepped back, as usual, getting out of Ven's way as he summoned his Keyblade to get to work.

Once again, the unversed before him weren't ones he had seen before.

It was the same blue as the mouse-like unversed they had seen before, but this one had a more human form. It had long red slits for eyes on its helmet-like head, two horns coming out of the side. Its slender body was also blue, with the exception of its silver claws it had extended towards him. Its slim legs were spread apart in a defensive position, ready to move in any direction at a moment's notice.

This one didn't seem able to shy away from a fight.

As soon as Ven stepped forward, the unversed came at him with the same speed. He brought his weapon up to block the fast attack, which gave him an easy opening to exploit, and in almost no time at all he had eliminated it.

He didn't have time to rest, though, as three more came at him at once.

He stepped back and aimed, throwing a small burst of flames between them, making them scatter.

Unfortunately, one of them slammed straight into Charlie, and Ven could only watch as she dropped her bag and fell right into the drink.

"Charlie!"

He didn't consider it before if she knew how to swim.

He made quick work of the one closest to him before making his way over to the water's edge, ready to hop in after her, but the sound of breaking water stopped him before he got the chance. He saw her pink hair break the surface, flooding him with relief when he realized that the water wasn't too deep and only reached just past her waist.

"Are you okay?"

She coughed, moving her damp hair out of her face.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

He turned around just in time to block a surprise attack from the unversed, and it didn't take much effort to fight the last two off.

Just as quickly as they had appeared, they were disposed of.

Ven turned around to look at Charlie again, finding her pulling herself back onto land. She was completely soaked, head to toe, and she didn't exactly look happy about it.

A snicker escaped him before he could stop it.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

"You look like a wet cat."

The glare she sent him only made him burst into full laughter as she wrang out the water in her hair.

Very funny."

He finally calmed down, trying not to smile so wide. "Are you okay though? Seriously."

She dropped her hair from her hands, letting it hang away from her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thankfully I didn't breathe any in. Now I'm just cold."

He shook his head. "Maybe you should take off your overshirt. You might get sick."

"No, it's fine." She said rather quickly. "It'll dry on its own. I'll be fine." She touched the front of her mask. "I should probably change this, though. I have some dry ones in my bag."

Ven perked up. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious about what she looked like under the mask. But especially now that she had explained why she wore it, he didn't want to pressure her into taking it off.

"That might be a good idea. I doubt you'll be able to breathe if it's wet."

She nodded, heading over to her bag. "Good thing I dropped this before I fell in." She said, lifting the flap and digging around inside.

Ven watched her, crossing his arms. But when he saw her pull out a fresh mask and drop her bag again, he suddenly felt like he was witnessing something he shouldn't, and that he was stepping over some kind of boundary. Before he knew it, he found himself turning away from her.

"... What are you doing?"

His shoulders tensed.

"I, uh, wanted to give you some privacy."

"... Why?"

His face suddenly felt hot.

"I don't know."

"It's not like I'm getting fully changed, it's just a mask. You don't have to look away."

He coughed, turning back around. "Right, you're right. Sorry about that."

She shook her head at him in amusement, reaching up to move the strap from one of her ears before pulling the entire thing away from her face.

While he had always been able to see the bridge of her nose, he was now able to see it in full. It was larger than Aurora's but avoided being too large or too wide for her face. It sloped down into a slightly upturned tip, and when she tilted her head to the side to put the wet mask in her bag, he couldn't help but think how nice it made her profile look. It was framed by high cheekbones, flushed from the sudden drop in the water. The corners of her mouth naturally turned upwards, giving off warmth even at rest. Her bottom lip was larger than her top lip, but not by much, and looked light pink in color.

Her eyes caught him and she stopped before replacing her mask, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Everything okay?"

He blinked, now realizing he had been staring. "Oh, yeah, sorry. It's just… this is the first time I've seen you with your mask off."

"Is there something on my face?"

"No, it's not like that. I just didn't know you were so…"

"So what?"

Ven scratched at his cheek.

"I didn't expect you to be so pretty."

She raised both eyebrows at him, and immediately he realized his mistake.

_"Wow."_

"No, that's not what I meant!"

"You're on a roll today, first Aurora is the most beautiful girl you've ever seen, then you call me a wet cat, and now it's a huge surprise that I'm not unattractive? You really know how to win a girl over, Ven."

"You said that didn't bother you!"

His panic ceased at the sound of her laugh ringing through the open field. Her smile spread wide across her face, and a single dimple graced the side of her mouth to join in her mirth.

"You're so easy, Ven."

He huffed at her. "Hey, come on! I thought I actually hurt your feelings!"

Her laugh simmered down to a giggle, and she dipped her head down to slip the straps of the mask over her ears, failing to hide the joy that reached all the way up to her eyes.

"You didn't, don't worry. But thank you, I guess."

"Huh? For what?"

She shook her head, still clearly amused. "Nothing. We should really keep going. I can keep teasing you once we're done."

He groaned, playing along. "Please don't."

Once the two teens met up with the women at the passageway towards the Forbidden Mountain, they understood that they wouldn't be able to get there on their own.

The path to the mountain was blocked by green flames that climbed higher than either of them could hope to reach, creating a dark magical barrier.

There was absolutely no way through.

Ven crossed his arms. "Looks like we're stuck."

The red woman turned to the group. "This must be Maleficent's doing."

The party was surprised when the green one turned to answer her. "I know!" She hovered closer to the wall of magic flames before gently waving her wand.

Whatever spell she used worked, because the flames disappeared from the center outwards, leaving no trace that they had been there at all.

She turned back around to look at everyone. "Shall we?"

Ven nodded with a smile. "Yep."

Charlie shook her head in amazement. "So we're just acting like that was no big deal…" She said quietly to herself, yet Ven was still able to catch it.

He smiled at her. "Come on. We must be pretty close. Then she can get back to normal."

Charlie nodded and followed his lead, taking in their surroundings as they very quickly changed.

The fields had been green and full of life, with tall trees in every direction. The water had been clean and crisp, and even though she had taken an impromptu swim, it was warm and inviting.

But everything beyond it was stone.

The ground ahead of them suddenly dropped off into a steep cliff with no view of the bottom due to a long expanse of fog that stretched as far as the eye could see. The only things visible were the large stalagmites climbing from the ground to peek over it. Directly in front of them was a stone archway that framed a long and winding walkway up to an unwelcoming castle.

It was the complete opposite of the castle they had just left.

Ven didn't so much as pause before heading through the archway, and Charlie stuck as close as she felt comfortable, but the closer they got to the castle, the more uneasy she felt.

It wasn't long before they reached the entrance of the castle.

"Woah…"

The lifelessness wasn't just external.

Every surface was the same stone gray, and it looked like no one had been around for several years, as some of the walls had completely crumbled. There were no obvious signs of anyone attempting any upkeep, let alone living there.

Ven scanned the area, looking for any signs of people. "Are we sure this is the right place? There's no one around…"

Charlie attempted to find a hint of habitation herself. "It wouldn't make sense to block the only way in here if there wasn't anything to find, right? It must be."

Ven turned his head at just the right moment to watch something zip mere inches from his face, hitting the wall behind him

Both teenagers took a step away from each other in alarm, with Ven calling his weapon to him as he looked for the offender.

"Who's there?" He called out, ready to deflect anything that came their way again.

Charlie chose to look at what had almost hit him, moving to the object that fell to the ground. She tilted her head curiously and bent down to pick it up.

Ven was ready this time as another one came from directly in front of him, swinging the Keyblade and breaking it in half. He heard the sound of something wooden landing on the ground to his right, which he glanced at.

"An arrow?"

"Stay sharp. We don't know how many of them there are or where they came from." Charlie warned, doing her best to move behind him and prevent herself from becoming an easy target.

Ven's eyes quickly moved around the area again, much more urgent in his search for any unwelcome guests.

Well, technically, _they_ were the unwelcome guests, but they hadn't been hostile.

His eyes caught sight of something slightly discolored compared to the boring gray surrounding them. Just past one of the stone walls was a group of three tiny creatures, two of which were aiming arrows at him with their bows. They weren't very tall, and they had rather bird-like faces with small yellow eyes. Their clothes were brown and black, and clearly worn out and dirty. Their feet were also avian, but their arms were rather humanesque.

There! Stay behind me, they don't look very tough. I think I can get rid of them pretty quick."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Ven moved just as they loosed their arrows in their direction, which thankfully missed them both. Charlie kept as close as she could while still giving him room to swing his weapon, and in one clean slice, all three of the archers had been eliminated.

"See? Even easier than those guys from before." Ven said, standing up straight.

"Yeah, but… did those guys look like unversed to you? They don't look like any of the others we've seen before."

This gave Ven pause.

It was true. They hadn't randomly appeared the same way the unversed did, and even when his Keyblade connected with them, he could feel a difference between the two. Their only gimmick seemed to be the weapons they were holding in their hands.

"Now that you mention it, no. I don't think they were. They didn't seem similar at all."

Charlie nodded. "Well, either way, I think that answers our question about anyone being here. We should be extra careful walking around."

"Right! We got this." Ven grinned. "Just keep staying close."

Charlie took a step closer as they started to move closer inside, looking down at the arrow she had picked up just a moment ago.

While they hadn't behaved like unversed, the creatures had disappeared in a puff of green flames upon defeat; the same flames that had been blocking the entrance. They were clearly magic in nature, and when Ven struck them down, everything on them had left with them, including their bows.

But the arrow stayed behind.

"Something on your mind?"

She blinked, train of thought derailed, and turned her attention to Ven, who was watching her curiously.

"Sorry, what?"

He chuckled. "You seemed like you were in your own little world. Everything okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I think I might have an idea, though."

"What's that?"

"You'll see. If it works."

Ven shrugged, then stopped when he heard some shuffling not too far away from them. He held out his arm to stop her from moving past him as he peeked around the corner of another crumbled wall.

"There's more of them. Not a lot, though."

Charlie's question was cut short when another arrow sped past them both, moving them both into action. Ven moved away from the wall while Charlie moved behind it for cover, allowing him to fight without worrying about leaving her exposed.

He took full advantage of that.

It only took a few swings for him to take care of them, but as soon as they were gone, another wave appeared out of thin air.

Right next to where Charlie was hiding.

He moved without thinking, trying to get there as quickly as he could before they noticed her.

But it seemed she had other plans.

She leaped out of her hiding spot, surprising the archer closest to her and grabbing hold of the bow in its hands. She gave a hard yank, ripping it out of its grip before planting a foot firmly on its thing body and kicking it back into the other creatures behind it. In a rather comedic domino effect, this caused two of them to spill their arrows across the ground, just in time for Ven to reach them and dispose of them.

"Are you okay?" He asked, blinking when he noticed the weapon in her hands.

She held it up to show him. "It didn't disappear with the rest of it. And look," she pointed at the arrows littering the ground. "Neither did those. I think I can use this, at least until we get what we came for. Now I can finally help you instead of just hanging out and hoping for the best."

Ven perked up. "Hey, that's a really good idea. But… have you ever used one before?" He tilted his head, watching her begin gathering the arrows before moving to help her.

"I went on a camping trip a few years ago to a place that taught people to use one. I was only there for about a week, but I really liked it, so I spent a lot of time there. But even then, none of the targets moved. So… I guess we'll see how it works out." She stood up, disappointed they hadn't managed to knock a quiver off any of them, deciding instead to place them in her bag.

She would just have to be careful.

"Maybe you can get in a surprise attack or two. Shoot them before they know we're there. That should give us both an advantage, right?" He asked.

She paused, then nodded with her eyebrows raised. "Yeah, that could work."

He smiled. "Great. Next time, you can show me what you've got."

Upon entering the castle, they once again met up with the three women before heading into a strange room. It was large and circular, with stairs on either side of the room that led to a lower stone level, though now, even with the same blasé gray everywhere, something hung over the room, making it seem like something could pop out at them at any moment. On their left was another set of stairs that climbed up to a smaller platform, the only things on it being a singular tattered purple carpet that pathed the way to a large chair seated comfortably against the wall behind it.

Whether it was a hearing room or an arena, Ven couldn't tell.

When his eyes scanned the lower level, that's when he saw the creatures from before.

The one to the left was the same archer as before, but the one to the right seemed slightly different. It was much rounder and had more piggish features, with an orcish face. Its feet could only be compared to fins on a fish, and instead of a bow and arrow, it held a lance in its hand.

More importantly, they looked like they were falling asleep on their feet.

"Careful, they're Maleficent's."

That made a lot of sense.

Ven nodded, then looked over his shoulder when he felt a hand placed on it. Charlie tilted her head at him, jerking her head in the direction of the minions.

"Can I take a crack at it?" She asked quietly.

He nodded, taking a step back as she let her hand drop towards her bag, carefully pulling out an arrow and notching it on the string of her bow. He saw her take a deep breath as she lifted it, aiming for the archer. Even he could tell she was nervous, seeing her move her fingers to try to get her hands to stop shaking.

"You've got this, Charlie." He assured her.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye for a brief moment, taking his encouragement and pulling back on the string.

The arrow moved faster than his eyes could keep up with, and in what felt like a split second, nailed the archer in the chest, disappearing in the familiar green flame. This alerted the lance wielder, snapping him out of his nap.

Ven grinned, clapping Charlie on her shoulder before quickly heading down the stairs. "Ten-shun! No sleeping on the job."

As the lonely guard charged him, he almost felt bad at how quickly he took care of it; the poor guy never stood a chance.

But Ven didn't have any time to rest when another round appeared, surrounding him.

He immediately went on the offensive, moving to the lancer closest to him, knocking their weapon out of their hands. Now exposed, the goon tried to backpedal away from Ven without any luck, falling backward just as he swung down on it.

Ven heard footsteps behind him, spinning on his feet to swing at whatever was behind him, only to stop short when he saw nothing behind him.

Hadn't there been more than just the one behind him a moment ago?

He looked over when his ears picked up the sound of movement on the upper level. Charlie was quickly moving down the set of stairs, away from a lancer that had decided to chase after her.

Ven moved out of the ring, passing her as she continued to put distance between herself and the minion. He struck it down before it had a chance to stop moving, and once again, the room was quiet.

When no others showed up, he dismissed his Keyblade, relaxing. "Well, that was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be." He peered over at Charlie knowingly. "You know, I could have sworn there were more of them there before. Do you think I scared them off?"

Charlie tilted her head, feigning thoughtfulness. "You know, you must have. They saw how strong you were and ran for their lives."

Ven couldn't help but beam at her. Ever since their conversation earlier, she seemed to be a lot more at ease. She must have been worried about how her actions looked to him. But now, she didn't feel so stiff, and she was bolder, having taken the bow and arrow right out of any enemy's hands and her blatant teasing even before that.

He wanted her to be comfortable, and she finally seemed to be getting there.

"Guess I'm just too tough for them."

Charlie let out an amused breath, shaking her head. "Absolutely."

Ven chuckled. "It looks like we cleared this area out. We should keep moving."

Charlie playfully motioned to the doorway in front of them. "After you."

Ven snickered, walking through first.  


"This maze is unnecessary."

Charlie tried to take a step forward, but her head started to spin, so instead, she leaned to her side, resting against Ventus. "Is the room spinning for you, too?"

"Yeah."

The main throne room had tricked them into thinking everything would be straightforward, but as soon as they had stepped forward, magic walls sprouted from the ground, blocking their path. It had sent them through magic portals to skip around the room until they managed to find the right portal leading to the throne.

It had taken them a lot longer than they would like to admit.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, his own vision starting to settle.

She wiped her forehead to get rid of the sweat collecting there. "I don't usually get motion sickness, but I'm feeling a little nauseous."

"We can take a minute if you need it."

She mulled it over, considering her options. She looked around for a place to sit down but stopped.

Look."

Ven lifted his head, having rested his hands on his knees to keep himself steady and to settle his stomach, looking in the direction she was pointing.

Directly in front of where the throne should be was a large glowing orb hovering over a pool of green flames.

"That's it!"

Ven stood up quickly, not noticing how he almost knocked Charlie to the ground, moving towards the orb.

Charlie huffed, straightening herself out before trailing behind him, his Keyblade in hand.

Putting two and two together, he aimed his Keyblade at the orb, and a beam of light shot out of the tip. Once the beam hit its target, the orb was released, the flames dying away as it soared above them and towards the exit of the castle.

Ven smiled, puffing out his chest. "That should do it."

"Good job, Ven. Hopefully, that means she's waking up." Charlie said.

Yeah! Which means we should go check on her." He replied. "Are you ready? Or do you need another minute?"

Charlie went to respond but suddenly brought a hand to her head. "I… Hold on…"

Ven took a step closer but suddenly felt lightheaded. "Wait--"

His vision went white before he could finish.

_There was a man with short brown hair in the clearing near the water, who was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt under a light gray tunic with a black and gold belt. His pants were a darker shade of gray with a pair of knee-high black boots._

_He smiled as he spoke, clearly holding someone’s hand._

_“Don’t you remember? We’ve met before.”_

_The hand belonged to none other than Aurora._

_“We… We have?”_

_“Why, of course. You said so yourself-- Once upon a dream.” He smiled wider as she pulled away, looking behind her carefully._

_Whatever she was looking for, she didn’t seem to find, for she turned back to him with a smile, allowing him to take her hand and walk with her across the clearing. They soon found themselves under a tree, with her resting her head on his shoulder._

_“I never thought I would meet you-- Outside of my dreams, that is.” She said, looking out at the clearing._

_“Who are you? What’s your name?” He asked, doing the same._

_She paused, slowly pulling away, unsure how to answer. “Hm? Oh, my name… Why, it’s…”_

_She shook her head, moving completely away from him. As badly as she wanted to…_

_“Oh, oh no, I can’t.”_

_She hiked up the front of her dress so she could run without tripping over the long material._

_“Goodbye!”_

_“I must see you!” He called after her, reaching after her._

_She turned to look at him for just a moment, but when she saw him take a step towards her to bring her back to him, she dropped the front of her skirt the wave her hands frantically. “I don’t know, maybe someday!” She turned back around, taking off again._

_“When? Tomorrow?” He wouldn’t give up; he wouldn’t let go now that he finally had her. He’d go wherever she asked him to, whenever she asked._

_“Oh, no. This evening! At the cottage, in the glen.” She clarified, finally moving out of reach of him._

_But only for now._

Ven’s vision cleared, and he shook his head to make sure he was really still in the castle. He looked at Charlie, who seemed to be getting her own bearings.

“Did you see that?”

She looked back at him, eyes wide.

“Yeah. Yeah, I saw it. That was Aurora.” She looked up in the direction the orb had gone. “But what exactly was that?”

The three women approached them, completely unencumbered by the magical walls that suddenly neglected to appear as they moved across the room.

“Aurora’s memory,” the red woman said. “She must have gotten her heart back.”

Ven perked up. “So her dream came true!” He exclaimed.

“Yes, not long ago.” The red woman continued. “Dreams are very strong beliefs. Aurora’s led her to her true love.”

The green one clasped her hands together in front of her. “I see you hold strong beliefs, too. Don’t you, dear?”

Ven smiled and nodded at her. “Yup!”

The red one looked at them both curiously. “Both of you also have a strong light.”

For some reason, this took Charlie by surprise. “Huh?”

The blue one cut in before she could get an answer. “Alright. Hurry, we can’t stay here!”

Ven looked at Charlie, wondering what was so surprising about the statement, but said nothing as they both followed the women out.

The last time they had entered the circular room, they only had the goons to worry about. This time, someone far more unsettling was waiting for them.

“Someone has released Aurora’s heart. Tell, me, child, was it you?” The owner of the voice turned around.

She was a tall and pale woman, with a very angular face. The top of her head was adorned with long, black horns. The skin on her face almost had a green tint to it, which her light purple eyeshadow and pale yellow eyes didn’t match well with. Together with the ruby red on her lips, the ensemble made her seem sickly and unnatural. The majority of her body was covered in a long black cloak, with purple trim adorning the front. In her sickly hand was a scepter with a large glowing ord on the end.

She looked less than pleased.

“Maleficent!”

Ven mustered up a glare of his own, moving into a defensive position while summoning his Keyblade. “Only ‘cause you stole it in the first place!” He charged at her without warning, leaping into the air.

As he brought down his blade, she held up her hands and disappeared in a burst of green flames, his weapon clanging in the spot she had just been standing in.

Shocked, he looked around for her.

“A Keyblade… You must be Ventus.”

He looked up, seeing she had traveled to the highest level in front of the throne, standing on the tatted tapestry.

“Huh? How do you know about me… and the Keyblade?”

She actually smirked at him, speaking too casually for the situation. “My powers ensure I’d know of the key to bringing me hearts.” She said. “Terra gave me a demonstration.”

This knocked Ven off guard, but only for a moment. He saw Charlie tense from the corner of his eye. He figured it was from hearing Terra’s name coming out of the woman’s mouth.

He didn’t like the idea of him being around her, either.

“Terra? He was here?”

“Why, yes. In fact, it was he who stole Princess Aurora’s heart.”

The sudden tension in the air was as thick as the silence, and Ven’s blood ran cold.

Terra had taken someone’s heart?

His whole body suddenly felt hot as he felt anger begin to boil in his stomach. He clenched his teeth, swinging out his arm as if to bat away the accusation. “That’s a lie!”

Maleficent shook her head. “I was asked to leave you unharmed… but it seems I have no choice!”

Beside Charlie, the women sprung into action, turning themselves into small balls of light before traveling to Ven’s side. Charlie gripped her bow, reaching into her bag to dock an arrow.

This wasn’t like the minions from before.

Maleficent suddenly appeared in the center of the ring, forcing Ven to move out of the way. He took a few steps back, the orbs of light moving closer to him as she prepared some kind of spell.

“All who dare my command to break, from this sleep shall never wake!”

Waves of dark green rolled out from her, slamming into Ven and knocking him back. For the third time that day, he felt vertigo, and he slumped forward to try keep from falling completely over. He heard Maleficent say something else, but it sounded jumbled to his ears.

He was too busy trying to stop the world from spinning.

When he dared to lift his head again, he saw the familiar webbed feet of her goons running towards him, but after another moment, the pawn disappeared, having been hit by Charlie’s arrow.

She had his back.

He shook off the nausea and looked around the room for the witch again, spotting her across the room from where Charlie was. He figured he could let Charlie handle the minions while he went after Maleficent, so he paid them no mind and sped past them to run up the stairs to reach her.

Apparently, this surprised her, because she let out a cry when his Keyblade came down on her repeatedly. She took a few moments to recover and move out of his reach, using the end of her staff to parry one of his swings. She used the reprieve to warp away from him, back towards the throne, but as soon as she rematerialized, she narrowly avoided an arrow coming straight for her face.

Maleficent turned her attention to Charlie, who reached into her bag again to grab another arrow.

Her eyes gave her away when she couldn’t find one.

She looked down, pulling the flap back to look inside for herself to try and find one. But other than her regular effects, it was empty.

She was out of ammo, and out of luck.

She looked up, gasping when she found Maleficent looming over her, scrambling back to try and put distance between them.

Maleficent tilted her head, seeing the bow in Charlie’s hand. “I don’t believe that belongs to you, child.” She reached out and gripped it, and Charlie watched in horror as smoke came from her palm, setting the bow on fire. They both dropped it to avoid getting burned, watching as it turned to ash in no time at all. “It would have done you well to have brought your own weapon instead of stealing one from someone else.”

Charlie looked up at her, hearing Ven calling her name as he tried to reach her. But he was too far away when Maleficent held up her scepter.

“What a waste.”

She brought it down, and Charlie threw out her hands in a last attempt to stop her.

Time stopped when the sound of metal hitting metal rang through the air.

Charlie opened her eyes, gasping again when she saw what was in her hands.

The neck was decorated with deep red and black diamonds that reached all the way down to the hilt, with a bit shaped like a black club. The handguard had thin lines that were shaped like a red heart, framing her hand comfortably. A small keychain dangled from the end of it, a black spade swinging lightly back and forth, mellow in contrast to the tense atmosphere immediately surrounding it.

Charlie’s mind cleared, only able to think one thing.

_Wild Card._

“Another Keyblade?” Maleficent pulled back in alarm, staring down at the weapon that spontaneously appeared in the young girl’s hand.

Charlie blinked, looking up at Maleficent again. Instead of the fear she felt a moment ago, she felt a rush of determination wash over her, and she stood up straight, squaring her shoulders. The weapon felt right in her hand, as though she had held it a hundred times before

Like an old friend.

“Is this better?”

She didn’t give Maleficent any time to reply, instead rearing back and striking her with it, knocking her down the stairs behind her.

Ven had been stunned by what had just happened but remembered what he was doing when he saw Maleficent tumble down. He moved again, going to join them on the edge of the ring, attacking Maleficent when she tried to recover from her fall. She warped away, moving across the room from them again.

Ven turned to Charlie, who was looking back at him with a resolve he had never seen in her eyes before. Their adventures through this world together had shown him that the coldness could thaw, but now, with her sudden fearlessness, some of the hardness had returned.

His own eyes landed on the Keyblade in her hand, totally awed. “This whole time…”

“How do I use magic?”

He let a noise of confusion escape him at the sudden question. “What? Magic? Uh… You have to will it to happen. Just imagine it happening in your mind, and it should work.”

She nodded. “I’m not confident about fighting her up close, so I’ll let you handle that. I’ll keep trying to hit her from a distance. Hopefully, this will keep her from trying something like that again.”

Ven opened his mouth but closed it again. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but she was right to be focusing on the fight instead of the sudden appearance of a Keyblade.

There’d be plenty of time for that when they were safe.

He rushed back into the fray, passing the minions once again, heading straight for Maleficent. He swung at her as she started a new spell, and suddenly she turned into something resembling a galaxy, slowly moving away from him and in Charlie’s direction.

She tensed, seeing the swirling colors coming for her. “Or not!” She yelled, deciding to slip down the stairs and duck her head down just as Maleficent would have reached her, narrowly avoiding her. When she saw Maleficent materializing into her natural form again, she aimed her Keyblade at her, focusing hard on the image of a flame escaping the tip and shooting in the direction of the witch.

At first, nothing happened.

She released the tension in her arms, breathing out slowly and trying again, and this time, a flare shot out, hitting Maleficent directly.

Before she had time to celebrate, she felt something swipe at her leg, cutting through her jeans and catching flesh, making her yelp and move away. She swung the Keyblade out, incapacitating the minion that struck her.

She had totally forgotten about them.

Ven saw the orbs forming a circle not too far from where Maleficent now stood. He assumed they were attempting to help, and right now, they could use all the help they could get. He dashed over, standing between the three lights, and suddenly he felt a rush of energy pooling at his feet. He lifted his Keyblade to the sky, feeling the fairies feed more energy into him, and he felt the energy travel up his legs, over his waist, into his chest and his arms, until he felt it all the way to the top of his head. When he felt like he was about to burst, he aimed his Keyblade at Maleficent and unleashed all the stored energy, watching as it knocked her back.

The goons in the pit with Charlie suddenly dissolved into nothing.

Instead of attempting another attack, Maleficent chose instead to start slowly limping up the stairs to her throne.

She wasn’t a threat anymore.

Now that the danger had passed, Ven felt his outrage return tenfold. She had accused one of his dearest friends of harming an innocent girl and allowing darkness to win.

But he knew Terra, and that wasn’t him.

“There’s no way Terra would hurt somebody like that!” He shouted, allowing his Keyblade to disappear from his hand.

Maleficent’s breathing was labored as she finally managed to finish climbing the stairs, reaching the center of the upper platform. “You don’t believe me? That’s unfortunate, for he agreed so easily.” She said.

Charlie was kneeling now, holding her hand to her leg. “If Ven says Terra isn’t that kind of person, then he isn’t that kind of person.” She looked over at Ven. “Right?”

Suddenly, Ven wasn’t so sure. “I… I think so…”

“Ven! Don’t be fooled!”

Ven’s head whipped up at the sound of the familiar voice, watching as a new person entered the room.

A girl with short blue hair and matching eyes headed down the stairs. She sported a black and blue halter top with what seemed to be a band imitating a corset around her midsection, and two light pink belts crossing her chest, with a silver emblem similar to Ven’s sitting where they both met. Her arms had bell sleeves that started from the middle of her upper arm, which seemed to be decorated with pieces of armor, her hands covered by gray fingerless gloves. Strips of blue and white cloth fell from her waist, framing a pair of black shorts paired with black stockings that reached the middle of her thigh. Her shoes also seemed to be partly armored, much like Ven’s were, and clinked whenever she walked.

The girl met Ven in the middle of the room, looking determined. “Terra would never do that. You know that as well as I do.”

Ven thought it over for a moment before lifting his head and nodding to her, a smile growing on his face. “Yeah!” He agreed, feeling much more sure than he had a moment ago.

“Ah, the truth can be most cruel, even amongst the closest of friends.” Maleficent had caught her second wind, no longer struggling to breathe or move. “After all, one never knows the secrets of another’s heart.” She looked over at Charlie, who was glowering back at her. “I’m sure you’ll agree… Charlie.”

Charlie scowled. “If I were you, I’d get out of here while you still have the option.”

Ven clenched his jaw. First, the witch accused Terra of hurting someone who didn’t deserve it, and now she seemed to be implying that Charlie had something to hide.

The _nerve._

“The Master sent me.”

He snapped out of his simmering, looking at Aqua.

“Ven… let’s go home.”

She extended her hand to him with a smile.

Ven couldn’t find it in himself to return it. “But Terra…” His eyes dropped to the floor.

“Terra’s not ready to leave yet.” She said, trying to gently nudge him into returning home with her.

Home.

His eyes suddenly found themselves resting on Charlie again, who was watching the scene from her kneeled position. He could see red staining the gloved fingers she still had pressed to her leg, but she didn’t seem too concerned about it. Her eyes were soft again, watching him struggle with everything he had just heard and with the choice Aqua had just presented to him.

“Sorry, Aqua.” He looked at Aqua again. “But I can’t go with you.”

How could he, when Charlie was looking at him like that?

“What?” Aqua asked.

“I promised Charlie I’d help her get home. And I still want to find Terra, but I’m going to make sure she gets back safely. I gave her my word. I can’t go back on it now.”

He moved past Aqua, heading closer to Charlie as he brought out his Keyblade again. “Let me see,” he said gently. “I promise I won’t touch it.”

She nodded, pulling back her hand to let him see the damage. It wasn’t too deep, but it would definitely be hard to walk on if she tried moving right now.

It was an easy fix.

He pointed his Keyblade at it, willing for the wound to close on its own, and in no time at all, the bleeding stopped and the cut sealed itself, not even leaving a scar.

“Thank you, Ven.” Charlie said quietly, wiping her hand on her overshirt to get the blood off.

He nodded, helping her stand up. It wasn’t until now that he noticed her Keyblade was gone, wondering when she had dismissed it.

He looked back at Aqua, seeing the surprised look on her face. “I’m taking her home. After that, I’m finding Terra.” He looked at Charlie over his shoulder. "Come on, let's go."

Charlie nodded and followed Ven when he took off in a jog out the doorway towards the entrance of the castle, both of them ignoring Aqua’s calls to come back. “Don’t worry, Ven. We’ll find him.”

“I hope so,” he said, trying to ignore what Maleficent had said before. He didn’t want to doubt his closest friend, but she had sounded so sure. “I’m worried about him.”

“Honestly, so am I. But I also made you a promise. And I’m planning to keep it, too.” She said, still showing some of her determination from before. “We’re going to find him."

He smiled, feeling a bit more reassured. “Thanks, Charlie."

She looked at him, eyes twinkling playfully. “Of course. What are friends for?”


	7. We Got Work To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian's day takes a turn for the better.

Varian wasn't lying down when he opened his eyes.

He was staring at the ceiling, but he wasn't on his back.

He blinked himself awake, lifting his head to take a look at his surroundings.

That was a huge mistake.

He groaned at the tension of his shoulder muscles, lifting a hand up to try to rub the pain away. The muscles were firmer than usual, his chosen sleeping position taking its toll.

He did not need this right now.

He looked around the room, still a bit disoriented. He was sitting at the table by the kitchen, having fallen asleep after making his sandwich. He saw the evidence he left behind sitting on the table, but thankfully it seemed he managed to eat the whole thing before dozing off.

At least he didn't waste it.

He sighed, looking at the window. It was still light outside, though it was clear that noon had passed some time ago.

He had slept a few hours, but he still had plenty of daylight to get his work done.

And clean up his lab.

He groaned again, this time out of discontent for his situation. That raccoon had not only destroyed materials he needed but had also created a mess that had wasted even more of his time. He got the most demanding part of the mess fixed, but now he would have to be quicker about moving all the metal into its new hiding spot.

He really wasn't looking forward to it.

He rolled his neck in one more attempt to loosen to muscles before heading into the lab to try to tackle his new urgent task.

He hadn't meant to take a nap in the middle of the day, but part of him felt rested. His body clearly needed it after the stress of helping his father gather crops the day before and the sudden visit from the vermin in his house.

The other part of him felt uneasy.

The dreams weren't stopping.

It wasn't the first time he had ever had a recurring dream; when he was younger, he had them fairly frequently. But those were based on his own personal experiences from his waking life, not visiting places he'd never seen before. That, and these seemed to leave him fairly lucid. He always seemed to have information he shouldn't, but that part also wasn't based in reality.

Charlie and Ven weren't real.

He hadn't personally felt the water Charlie fell into, but somehow he could tell it wasn't cold without her saying so, while the air in Maleficent's castle was. And while he wasn’t terrible at reading people, he instinctively knew how everyone he saw was feeling without necessarily being made clear.

It wasn’t like any other dream he had ever had before.

He stood in the doorway of his lab, taking in the sad sight of all of his materials strewn everywhere. He had moved all the broken bottles to the side of the room in the box they came in, having had to sweep the floor to ensure he wouldn’t accidentally step on any stray shards. The metal was piled up the way he had left it, just waiting for him to finish getting them out of the way.

He sighed again, stopping short of running a gloved hand over his face. He was still so, so tired from everything, he really didn’t have the energy for this.

But it had to be done.

He moved to the pile of metal and grabbed everything, managing to hold everything awkwardly in his arms. It wasn’t that there was too much for him to handle, the pieces were simply too varied in shape and size for him to hold comfortably.

He headed for the front of the house, carefully moving everything to free his arm to allow himself to open the door. Thankfully, he had no trouble with this part.

What he really needed to worry about was not being seen.

The last time he was mostly moving tools and small pieces, so it was easier for him to hide if he got caught, but some of the parts currently in his arms were almost as tall as he was, and he absolutely couldn’t afford getting caught this time.

He peeked his head out the door to check to see if anyone was around.

Just like that morning, the coast was clear.

He closed the door behind him before shifting everything back into a more comfortable position, heading down the steps and heading back towards the tunnel entrance.

He was hoping his bad luck was used up for the day, or even the week or month, as he didn’t want to have a run-in with Ms. Eggerbeat. He thankfully hadn't seen any trace of her all day.

He intended to keep it that way.

Luck seemed to be turning in his favor, because Heidi wasn't anywhere in sight, either. As affectionate as the hen was, she tended to be loud, and any attention she tried to give him wouldn't help him.

He managed to get to the mouth of the tunnel without any issue.

Heading further inside, he finally reached the spot where he left his tools, carefully putting everything down. He wiped his brow, unsure if the sweating was from carrying everything or worrying about getting caught.

Not that it really mattered.

He wondered if that was how Charlie felt when she was helping Ven fight Lucifer.

He blinked, then slapped his palm to his forehead.

Get a grip, Varian.

He had too much to do, he couldn't afford being distracted.

He shook it off, feeling good about getting the hard part done. At least, for the moment. He was only planning on working on one tank for now, but if it went well, he could build a few more. If that were the case, he'd have to sneak a lot more materials underground.

Satisfied, he turned around and headed back up to the surface.

Squinting so his eyes could adjust to the sunlight again, he considered his next move. He could go back home and get to work on math required for building the actual tanks, and he wouldn't have to move around as much. It would give his body more time to rest. Then again, that raccoon had destroyed some of the materials he would need to actually create the heating component for the tanks, and if he went and bought some more now, he could get to work on that, too.

He decided he would head into town and grab those first instead of putting it off another day.

And this time, he'd make sure to put them away.

For the second time that week, he found himself back at the market, heading for the familiar stall holding most of his alchemical needs.

Even though the rest of the village didn't seem to like him, the owner of the stall seemed to appreciate his business and did more than just tolerate him. He was a kind man, and actually seemed invested in whatever projects Varian would be working on.

He wouldn't call him a friend, but he was more than an acquaintance.

Varian perked up when he saw the man in question in his usual spot, quickening his pace.

"Marco!"

The man spotted him quickly, giving him a friendly smile as he approached.

"Varian, what a surprise! It's been a few days, I was starting to think you'd gone missing."

Varian chuckled.

"Yeah, it's been kind of busy the last few days. Dad had to prepare for the festival, and then had to come back and gather more crops for the extension." He said. "I've been helping him out."

"Oh, right, right, right! It's incredible, isn't it?" Marco beamed. "The princess finally returning to us after all these years, on her birthday no less! It's quite the miracle, wouldn't you say?"

Marco was older than Varian, but only by a handful of years, but was quite a bit taller than him with a more solid build. He had short sandy blond hair that matched his honey-colored eyes that always seemed to sparkle with some kind of excitement.

Varian wouldn't call him eccentric.

Enthusiastic was the better word.

"Yeah, who would have guessed? It's been so long, most people lost hope." Varian agreed.

"Guess it really does prove that good things come to those who wait. It's been an interesting week, indeed." Marco smiled at Varian.

"Yeah, you're telling me. Between that thing landing outside the village and the rumors I've been hearing, it's the most that's happened around here in a while." Varian commented.

Marco leaned in, voice hushed.

"Are you talking about the man with the schythe?"

Varian raised his eyebrows and nodded.

Marco could be a bit of a gossip sometimes, but Varian had never seen him speak so quietly about a subject before. Marco was a charismatic and open guy, and he never seemed to have a bad word to say about anyone, so to see him so careful about his words didn't really put Varian at ease.

Especially now that he knew that the woman from the other day may not have made up as much as he once thought.

Marco looked around conspiratorially before continuing.

"I heard people talking. They think he might be Saporian."

That sent a chill down Varian's spine.

The rumors had started when the princess had originally been kidnapped. Saporia had already been a rival of Corona for centuries, and while there had been no attacks on the kingdom for a long time, it was assumed that they were lying in wait for the right opportunity. The Royal Guard found no connection between the Saporians and the princess's disappearance, but some people still chose to believe it was their doing.

It made sense that upon her return the rumors would return.

"Did they find something out about him?" Varian asked, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt.

Marco shook his head. "No, no more than last time. I don't think it really holds any water, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. But it raises other questions, like who the guy really was. And I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse."

Varian nodded, agreeing. If it was a Saporian, it would be easy to explain a motive. But if it was just some random person, that meant they wouldn't know if he had been working alone or as part of another group, and what they would want with the kingdom.

"But that's not what you came here for. We can talk rumors another time. You out here to browse or did you have something specific you were looking for?" Marco completely shifted gears, gently patting his hands on the table holding his wares.

Varian shrank. "Yeah, about that… I'm actually out here to replace something."

Marco blinked. "Oh, no, did you have a mishap of some kind? You're okay though, right?"

Varian nodded. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. But a raccoon got into the house earlier and broke every bottle of that stuff I got from you last time I was here."

Marco winced. "Oh, man, I'm so sorry. You know, Camilla found one running around outside the house just the other night, they've been getting really bold lately. We should really figure something out to handle them."

Varian frowned and nodded. He had never met Camilla, but Marco always made his sister sound like a kind soul, same as him, so it saddened Varian to hear she had to deal with them like he had.

Hopefully with much less disastrous results.

Marco hummed in thought, tapping his fingers on the table. "I'll tell you what: I've gotten a ton more traffic since they announced the princess returned, so business has been going well. I've got another case of that stuff, and I'm willing to part with it if you promise to come up with some way to take care of those pesky raccoons and share it with us. Sound like a deal?"

Varian's eyes widened. "What? Are-Are you sure? That's a lot to just give away, Marco, I don't want to just take it."

Marco simply grinned, waving his concerns away. "We've got a lot to celebrate lately. It's been a good day, a good week. I wouldn't offer if I didn't want to."

Varian opened his mouth and closed it again in disbelief.

Marco was way too kind for his own good.

"I insist, Varian."

Varian swallowed, nodding. "Okay. Thanks, Marco, really. It means a lot."

Marco ducked behind the table, and Varian could hear the sound of him dragging a crate against the ground. He reappeared above the table, carefully placing the crate on the table in front of him. "Then you're all set. I know I don't need to warn you about being careful. But take care, and don't push yourself too hard, okay? Can't get your work done if you burn yourself out." He smiled, urging Varian to take the crate.

Varian smiled, taking it from him delicately. "I'll do my best. Thanks again, Marco." He lifted it off the table.

Marco grinned again. "Don't mention it.

Varian's trip back home was uneventful, and the calmness around him was a welcome contrast to the chaos from that morning. He got back just as the sun was setting, painting the trees and the houses a cozy orange that further helped him relax. He had reached his front door before he knew it, having been zoning out the entire walk back.

He slipped into his lab and stowed the crate away, hoping to avoid another fiasco. He even draped an old apron over it in an attempt to hide it from view.

It wasn't much, but it did make it look less interesting.

He took off his gloves as he headed to his room, placing them in their usual spot. His nap earlier had been sufficient in giving him the energy he needed to get through the rest of the day, but his sleeping position coupled with all the carrying he did wore him right back out, and he couldn't wait to get back to a proper bed.

It wasn't long before he flopped onto his back on the bed, arms spread out to his sides as he closed his eyes, already able to feel some of the tension leaving his shoulders.

He wondered what adventure he'd dream up this time.

Even if Charlie and Ven weren't real, the dreams were happening often enough that he was beginning to grow used to them. As much as he hated to admit it, if he ended up not dreaming about them this time, he'd actually be a bit disappointed.

It was better that his imagination ran wild in his sleep instead of when he was trying to work.

He let out a deep breath, feeling himself drifting off, hoping their next stop led them somewhere enjoyable.


	8. Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting a new adversary brings up feelings neither Ven nor Charlie expect.

It was unbelievable how something so empty could be so full.

Charlie stood behind Ven, arms wrapped around his middle as she always did as they left the atmosphere of the world they just left behind. They both stood on a vehicle that was vaguely board-shaped, sporting the same colors and design of his Keyblade. The wings on the back resembled the bit, connecting to a round platform for them to stand on, and completed with a neck at the front that ended with a green orb on the end.

But that somehow wasn't the most amazing thing.

Even through her armor, it was obvious that she was gazing into the open space around them as it sped past. Deep blues and light purples melding fluidly into pitch black, flecked with the white of distant stars.

They didn't seem so out of reach anymore.

She rested the side of her head against Ven's back, squarely between his shoulder blades. He tilted his head slightly to the side, feeling the weight even through his armor.

"You okay?"

She nodded slowly.

"Yeah, just enjoying the view."

He gave a nod of his own, looking ahead again.

"You know, now that you have your own Keyblade, I can teach you how to transform it into a glider of your own." He said. "It isn't too hard, and you'd have a lot more room."

She lifted her head to look at him.

"Is that your way of telling me I'm cramping your space?" She said facetiously.

"Not even." He replied, the smile clear in his voice. "But I bet it'll be a lot more comfortable for you than having to huddle so close to stay on mine."

She shrugged, returning her head to its previous resting place. "I'm just fine right here, but it's probably a good idea if I do. Maybe after we land at the next world you can walk me through it."

He nodded again. "That sounds like a plan."

He slowed a little, trying to decide which direction to go in next. The last group of worlds had all been clustered together pretty closely, so he had a general idea of where he wanted to go. But now, with so much open space, he was at a bit of a loss.

Where could Terra have headed?

The force of something rushing past them almost knocked them off their course and off the glider entirely, but Ven quickly regained control, his hands instinctively moving to grip Charlie's arms to ensure she didn't accidentally let go. He looked in the direction of the offending object and felt his whole body tense.

"Him again!"

Charlie tried to peer past Ven to get a look at the person who almost knocked into them, but he moved ahead before she got a chance. "Him? Him who?" She asked.

Ven shook his head, shifting his weight on the glider. "Hang on tight."

She barely managed to tighten her hold on him before he took off after the man.

Whoever it was, it was clear Ven had a bone to pick with him.

Ven brought the glider down close enough to the ground for the two of them to hop comfortably to the clearing below, deactivating their armor as they dropped.

The entirety of the area, and seemingly most of the world, was pure rock. Nothing green grew as far as the eye could see. There were plenty of mountains and cliffs, with even smaller rock formations littering the expanse around them, the earthly yellow contrasting with the light blue sky above them.

Other than them, it was completely devoid of life.

Ven looked around, still tense. "Where's he hiding?"

Charlie immediately felt the hair stand on the back of her neck, turning her head to look over her shoulder before letting out a gasp of surprise, scrambling backward.

A man stood behind them, wearing a black bodysuit with strips of red spreading over it, similar to a set of veins traveling across his chest. A red belt across his waist was holding up two more belts that crossed each other, framed by a tattered dark blue cloth. Most bizarrely, his head was hidden from view by a silver helmet with sleek black glass for him to see through.

Ven scowled and moved in front of Charlie. "Alright. What did you mean about Terra being a different person?"

Charlie's brow wrinkled, looking at Ven's back.

They had met before.

The man started to take a few steps forward. "Exactly what I said, idiot. The Terra you know will be gone forever."

Ven's anger didn't take long to boil over. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

The man had stopped walking, watching him. "Stupid, or true." He held out his hand, palm down.

Ven recognized the gesture, feeling his shoulders tense as a Keyblade appeared in his hand.

The handle and teeth were black and red, shaped vaguely like mechanical gears. Attached to each gear were gray-colored portions with a bright blue eye on each end that seemed to be staring directly at Ven, chained to the middle portion of the neck with thick black chains.

"A Keyblade?" Ven felt a quick moment of disbelief, but then he realized what was happening.

He was threatening them.

Ven growled, summoning his own Keyblade.

"Good. Let's see what you're made of." The man said, shifting his weight to prepare for the fight to begin.

Ven gripped his Keyblade tighter. "Charlie, stand back. Let me handle this."

"Oh, I don't think your green friend is planning to do much interfering." The man's voice continued sounding disinterested as he lifted a hand to point behind Ven.

Ven blinked, turning around to look at Charlie.

Even through her mask, she looked ill.

Her hands were shaking at her sides even though the rest of her body was unnervingly still. The only other movement in her vicinity was her mask moving with each quick, shallow breath she took. Her eyes were wide with what could only be described as fear, and yet, she didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular.

As if she wasn't there at all.

"Charlie?"

Her eyes snapped to look at Ven, quickly followed by a cry.

"Look out!"

Ven barely had time to block when he turned back around, the man bringing his Keyblade down on him when his back was turned. Ven managed to push him off, but the mysterious man didn't relent and let out a combination of strikes, leaving Ven unable to block them. The sting of the metal didn't pair well with all the sudden changes in direction as the man knocked him around, and with the last hit, he found himself falling onto his back. Before the man had a chance to stab downward, Ven rolled out of the way, scrambling to his feet.

The man was no longer there.

He heard a strange noise behind him before he felt something slam into his back, almost knocking the wind out of him as he stumbled forward. Another onslaught followed, ending with Ven unsure of which way was up.

Off to the side, hands still shaking, Charlie could do nothing but watch. Any attempts to focus were sabotaged by deep pangs of fear with every blow the man landed on Ven. Her breathing was shaky, her face looking washed-out compared to her black mask. Her eyes tried to follow the man's movement, but wherever she thought he was going to go, he ended up somewhere else.

She had to do something.

She tried slowing her breathing, calling her new weapon to her, thinking that perhaps her strategy with handling Maleficent might work in her favor again. She curled her fingers tighter around the handle, hoping for that feeling of familiarity to wash over her again and calm her enough to focus.

It never came.

But she had no time.

She lifted the Keyblade, trying to keep her eye on the man. Ven had managed to get back on his feet again and was now managing to stand his ground, keeping the man mostly in one place. She blocked out every other thought other than freezing him where he stood, willing ice to form from the end of her Keyblade, and chase after him.

The sound of her heart beating became defeaning in that moment as it started to speed up.

She felt her breathing pick up again as a pit of dread formed in her stomach, making her vision begin to tunnel. She shook her head, trying to get her body to stop working against her. She tried again, trying to steady her hands as they trembled.

She couldn't tell if the ache in her ribs was from her heart pounding or her hyperventilating.

Her frustration met her fear as the pit grew, reaching a peak and she let out an anguished noise from her throat, tears breaking free of her eyes and racing down her face to be absorbed by her mask. She dropped her arms, watching in distress as the man continued to attack Ven.

She wasn't able to help him.

She couldn't.

All she could do was watch as the man knocked him back again, hands numb as she loosely held onto her Keyblade.

This time, Ven couldn't get up.

The man slowly advanced on him, a predator playing with its food that has nowhere else to run.

"That really all you got? Man, you really are worthless." He said, moving in closer. "I'd be going against the Master's orders, but so what? As far as I'm concerned, your job here is done."

Charlie watched the man begin to charge up one more magical attack, finding her feet moving quickly in their direction. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when she got there, but she decided to cross that bridge when she got there.

She never did.

The man heard her coming and aimed a shot of dark energy straight at her, nailing her in the chest. She found herself unable to breathe as she hit the ground hard, rolling a few times before coming to a stop. She tried to push herself up, but the pain in her chest made her arms buckle and she flopped gracelessly on the ground.

Ven looked at her, trying to do the same.

"Charlie…"

In the end, she could do nothing to help him.

The man turned his attention back to Ven, finishing his charging and unleashing a burst of black energy in his direction. Upon impact, the entire area was covered in a blinding light, making everything go white for several seconds.

When the light died down and the flames dissipated, all that was left were the scorch marks from the impact.

The man turned his head to look at Charlie, seeing her staring at the spot Ven had just been in. Her eyes were still wet, unable to bring herself to move.

"Don't worry! You're safe."

The sudden high-pitched voice caught both their attention, making them both turn to look in the direction it came from.

A short figure wearing a full black outfit had his back turned to them, suddenly calling a Keyblade to his white-gloved hand.

Two shooting stars framed the handle, the white tails meeting to join another star. The purple neck stretched in a curved line, the end curving further to cradle a crescent moon with another star.

But the most shocking part wasn't the Keyblade.

It was the large, round, black ears on top of his head.

He lifted the Keyblade above his head, calling "Heal!", and cast curing magic on Ven, who began to stir. He lifted his head and opened his eyes, which was good enough for the figure, who then turned around and faced the mysterious man.

It was a mouse.

And he didn't look very happy.

He ran forward a few steps. "Tell me where you got that! Keyblades are not something you use just to bully somebody around!" He pointed his Keyblade at the man. "Here, I'll show ya!"

Ven got to his feet, running forward to join him. "We both will!" They looked at each other and gave matching affirming nods, getting into fighting stances.

The man seemed no more interested than he did a minute ago.

Ven and his new fighting partner wasted no time in charging at the man, coming in from different sides. The man attempted to move out of the way, but stepped directly into the path of the mouse, left wide open to his own set of attacks. Ven attempted to join in, but as he moved to swing his Keyblade, the man suddenly stopped moving mid-fall as if time had stopped.

"Too slow."

The voice came from above him, and he parried just in time as the man appeared above him from a dark portal.

It had been an after image.

The mouse took that opportunity to swing at the man, knocking him back. This allowed Ven to properly recover and get his bearings again.

It was a whole different ball game now.

Whenever he attempted to defend or attack one of them, the other would pick up the slack and nail him while he was exposed. He barely had any time to react with the flurry of blows coming from different directions faster than he could look.

It wasn't long before he was sprawled out on his back.

Ven, Charlie, and the mouse all watched in silence for a brief moment, wondering what he would do next. Their question was answered when he suddenly twisted his body until he was in a standing position. Ven and the mouse each took a step back in anticipation.

"Hmph, you win."

A dark pillar of shadow opened up behind the man.

"Consider yourself on probation."

He took a few slow steps back, disappearing into the darkness before the entire portal disappeared into thin air.

Ven let out a breath of relief, turning to find Charlie. She had pushed herself into a sitting position, looking worn out by everything that had just occurred.

He quickly made his way over to her.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up at him, lifting a hand to wipe at her eyes that were starting to dry. Her breathing was more steady than before, but the blast to the chest had clearly done a number on her that she would need to recover from. She wasn't shaking anymore, but her movements were sluggish.

"I'm sorry, Ven."

He wasn't expecting that.

"What? What are you talking about? You didn't do anything wrong." He shook his head at her.

She sighed, looking at her hands in her lap. "I froze up. I tried to help you, but I couldn't."

"I told you to stay back. I didn't want you getting hurt. It's okay, I promise. You don't need to apologize." He looked her over. "How bad does it hurt?"

She shook her head. "Not very. I just need a minute to catch my breath."

He nodded, sitting down next to her. He frowned, looking over her face. She had been sweating, and he was pretty sure it was from whatever she had been upset about earlier. He had never seen her like that before, even with everything that was going on.

"What had you so scared?" He asked her gently.

She looked at him again, hesitating. She brought her palm up to wipe the sweat off her forehead.

"His eyes."

He blinked, tilting his head.

"His… eyes?"

He didn't understand. Nobody could see his eyes through that helmet. There was definitely no way she could have.

But she nodded, clearing her throat.

"They were watching me."

He didn't understand what she was trying to tell him, but it didn't matter. Whatever she was talking about, it was serious enough to shake her to her core. And as long as she felt that fear, no matter what caused it, her pain was real.

That was what mattered to him.

"Well, him and his eyes are gone, they can't look at you anymore. You're okay."

She nodded.

"Thank you, Ven."

He smiled at her, glad to see her calming down. "We should really be thanking whoever came to help."

As if his mere mention summoned him, the mouse approached the both of them as they got to their feet.

"Are you both alright?" He asked.

Ven looked at Charlie, and they both nodded to each other before he turned back to the mouse. "Yeah, we're just fine. Thanks for before, we owe you. The name's Ventus, and this is Charlie. What's your name?"

The mouse smiled back, relieved they weren't hurt. "I'm Mickey!" He replied.

Ven rested his hands on his knees, leaning down a small distance. Mickey was quite a bit shorter than he and Charlie were.

"I see you've got a Keyblade." He said, studying it.

"Yep! I've been trainin' under the great Yen Sid." Mickey dismissed his Keyblade. "He found out the worlds are in trouble, an' I sorta took off without tellin' him." He said almost sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Ven was clearly amused. "Well, that makes both of us. I ran off, too."

Beside him, Charlie crossed her arms, looking at the ground.

Mickey reached into his pocket, pulling out a strange blue crystal that held another green star-shaped one inside it. "All I hafta do is think it, and the Star Shard will take me anywhere I wanna go. At least, I thought it would. I haven't quite got the fine points down, like… when, or where… it just kinda kicks in whenever it wants to."

Charlie couldn't help but chuckle, making Mickey perk up.

"But I wouldn't have met you if it hadn't brought me here."

Ven gave a chuckle of his own, finding Mickey's optimism infectious.

"Maybe it starts workin' because it's reactin' to somethin'." Mickey said, holding out the shard for both of them to see.

As soon as he finished speaking, the shard lit up, blinding all three of them. Ven felt his body suddenly go weightless, and the last thing he remembered was grabbing Charlie's hand.


	9. One Jump Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Answers slip from Varian's grasp after he only finds more questions

Varian's eyes snapped open the next morning in alarm, and he felt his body moving on its own as he sat upright.  
  


It took a moment for him to get his bearings, but after a few deep breaths, he recognized his room and started to calm down, though his heartbeat took a little longer to control.  
  


He ran a hand through his hair nervously, pausing when he felt how damp it was at the roots.  
  


He'd been sweating.  
  


He pulled it back, letting it drop on the mattress as he leaned back to lay back down, thinking back to the dream he had.  
  


Honestly, this one was more of a nightmare.  
  


That fear had been too real.  
  


What had made it so much more frightening, though, was how that fear had also stopped Charlie in her tracks. With everything that had happened to her up to that point, he had never seen her  _ scared _ before. Surprised, yes, but afraid? No.  
  


It didn't matter anymore if it was real or only existed in his head.  
  


He never wanted to see her like that again.  
  


He ran a hand over his face, his heart finally slowing to a more comfortable pace. He still wasn't ready to fully get out of bed, but at least now he didn't feel like he just ran all the way to the castle.  
  


Ven had tried so hard to keep them both safe and almost didn't make it out of that fight alive. It was only due to the help of a complete stranger that they all ended up okay by the end of the ordeal, and even then, it was only because that masked man had decided to back off on his own. Sure, he'd started losing the fight, but he could have kept going if he wanted, or even gone after Charlie as a cheap shot.  
  


But he didn't.  
  


Speaking of the masked man…  
  


What eyes could she possibly have been talking about?  
  


Ven had been right: there was absolutely no way anyone could see through the visor of his helmet to see his face, let alone his eyes.  
  


Maybe she had simply misspoken due to the adrenaline leaving her. Maybe she just meant she felt like  _ he _ was watching her, not his actual eyes.  
  


That was the only explanation he could come up with.  
  


The look in her own eyes, he thought, might just haunt him.  
  


He shook his head, as though trying to shake that image from his mind, instead trying to think of her during another time.  
  


The lake.  
  


When she had fallen in and took her mask off to change it, and had teased Ven into a near panic.  
  


When she smiled.  
  


He liked it when she smiled.  
  


The mask made her eyes seem cold and calculating, but when it was off, he could see and even  _ feel _ the warmth coming from them, especially when she smiled. She was no longer intimidating, and was even approachable, in his opinion.  
  


He wanted to see more of that side of her.  
  


Finally feeling relaxed enough, he sat up again, throwing his legs over the side of his bed to stand up, but paused before he could actually get to his feet.  
  


His eyes had landed on that strange metal sitting on his bedside table. The sun was just beginning to reach where it was resting, only caressing one of the corners. He reached out, gently picking it up, for some reason feeling like it might break if he was too rough with it.  
  


It was  _ still _ warm.  
  


He brought it closer to his face, examining it closely again as he had already done so many times before, as if he would reach some kind of epiphany this time. Turning it over in his hand, and with no new information, he curled his fingers around it before looking up again.  
  


He knew what he was going to do today.  
  


  
  


How he was lucky enough to get his hands on a piece of this metal in the first place was beyond him.  
  


He was only intending to cut off a small piece to run a few tests on, but that was proving impossible at the moment. Any attempts at chipping or cutting at the material either resulted in broken tools or tired hands.  
  


After another ten minutes of trying, he finally had to drop the shears he had borrowed from his dad's set of tools. Any more pressure, and he wasn't sure which would break first, the blades or his fingers.  
  


He grunted, ignoring the loud clattering of the shears on his desk, running his gloved fingers through his hair as he stared down at this mystery sitting in front of him. Even though he had just spent the last forty-five minutes trying to remove a portion of it, no one would have guessed that was the case. There was almost no trace of his attempts, save for a few small scratches that were only obvious if the person looking already knew they were there.  
  


What  _ was _ this thing?  
  


He should be frustrated that he'd broken a few of his tools trying to find answers, but he couldn't help but be absolutely fascinated by its durability. He had never encountered something like this before, and the more he tried to learn about it, the less he seemed to know, which really started to get his blood pumping.  
  


It really was beginning to look like he had discovered something never seen before.  
  


The bouncing of his leg let him know that sitting still was no longer an option. He stood up, suddenly full of energy and excitement at this possible discovery.  
  


He'd get to name it. What would he call it?  
  


He had no idea.  
  


He suddenly felt cramped in his lab, needing to get out and move around before returning to the task at hand. His head was running wild with too many possibilities on what to do next, and he needed to clear it before he could move forward.  
  


It probably wasn't a good idea to get his hopes up, but he couldn't help it.  
  


His feet led him not just out of his lab, but out of his house entirely, the sun warming his skin pleasantly. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, feeling better than he had all week, and definitely better than when he had first woken up.  
  


Now that he was outside and away from his current project, he could feel the chatter in his mind calm enough for him to actually have a solid, uninterrupted thought.  
  


He could go to the market again and replace the things he broke.  
  


No, that would just keep his mind focused on what was waiting for him inside, and he'd feel rushed about getting back to it.  
  


His eyes scanned the area around him, trying to think of something he could do that wasn't somehow tied to metal sitting on his desk.  
  


He perked up when his eyes landed on the garden directly next to the house. He remembered he had made a promise not that long ago, and now just might be the perfect time to deliver on it. He slipped past the fence surrounding it, careful not to step on any of the crops his father had left behind that he didn't feel would be up to par for the festivities.  
  


Which worked out just fine for Varian, because that left him with perfectly sized pumpkins for Heidi to snack on.  
  


He knew his dad wouldn't mind if the smaller ones suddenly went missing; they'd just end up eating the remainders themselves as they always did at the end of a large harvest. He'd probably even be praised for finding a good use for them, as it gave them less work to do when they had to clear out the garden for the next round of planting.  
  


He stopped walking when he came upon a patch of soil that had just what he was looking for. He smiled when he saw the tiny pumpkins sitting comfortably on their vines. He was lucky that his dad had left one of his knives nearby so he wouldn't have to trek into the house and be tempted to return to his work so soon.  
  


He made sure to be extra careful when removing the pumpkins from their vines; he'd almost cut his own fingers off back when his father first started teaching him how to harvest crops so he could start helping him out. These smaller ones wouldn't take nearly as much effort as the larger ones, so there was no need to be overzealous.  
  


He was satisfied when he finished, having gotten three small ones that he could carry in his hands without too much trouble. He wasn't trying to feed every chicken in the coop, so this would be plenty. He placed the knife back where he found it before heading into the treacherous territory that was Ms. Eggerbeat's property.  
  


Varian's attempt to treat Heidi to her promised pumpkins was almost a failure.  
  


Heidi had been so happy to see him that she had lost control of the volume of her cheerful clucking, and apparently, it traveled all the way to the house, as Ms. Eggerbeat came storming out only moments later to see what the commotion was about. If he hadn't thrown himself over the fence and dove into the coop, he would have been caught for sure, but thankfully she didn't have the mind to investigate any further. Once she had walked back into the house, he made a quick break for his own, quickly closing the door behind him.  
  


He couldn't help but chuckle, though, as he pulled feathers and straw out of his hair and dusted it off his clothes.  
  


He was in too good of a mood.  
  


He lifted his arms, stretching his muscles after that impromptu display of athleticism.  
  


Now that he'd taken a step back, he knew what he was going to try next.  
  


With a spring in his step, he bounded towards his lab, excited to get back to work.  
  


As he got ready to push open the door, he heard familiar chittering from the other side, making him stop with his hand on the knob.  
  


He was sure he had closed every entrance into his lab, so how was it possible? He supposed it didn't matter.  
  


The raccoon was back.  
  


Instead of fear, he felt annoyance well up in his chest, gripping the knob a bit tighter. With his jaw clenched, he turned the knob and threw the door open.  
  


The raccoon was perched on his desk, lifting its head to look at him, caught red-handed.  
  


"How did you get in here, you little--"  
  


Varian cut himself off when he took in what exactly was happening.  
  


The raccoon, looking ready to take off at any sign of movement, was holding the metal in one of its paws.  
  


Varian could almost feel his face pale in real-time, no longer agitated, but worried. He gently let go of the knob, keeping his eyes on the material in the creature's hand.  
  


"Okay… let's just… take this slow, okay buddy? How about you… put that down and we pretend like this never happened?"  
  


First, he makes a deal with a chicken, now he's trying to reason with a raccoon.  
  


What had become of him?  
  


He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, slowly sliding his feet against the floor to try to inch his way closer to his desk. His eyes never left the raccoon, watching its every move, stopping only when he saw its tail twitch nervously behind it.  
  


He let out his held breath, continuing his slow trek over to the masked bandit. He was thankful that the animal hadn't moved yet, and he thought he just might be able to get it to drop it.  
  


That hope was quickly doused when it put the object in its mouth and dropped off the desk.  
  


Varian's eyes could barely keep up with the movement as the raccoon darted not away from him, but rather  _ towards _ him. Startled, he took a step back but realized too late why it had decided on that direction.  
  


The door was wide open.  
  


"No! No, no, no!" He attempted to chase after it, but it scrambled out of his view, causing him to stumble after it.  
  


By the time he got to the door frame, however, he had completely lost track of it. There were two open windows, and his gut told him that the critter had made its escape.  
  


He slumped, resting his temple against the wooden frame.  
  


So much for all his good luck…  
  


He sighed, closing his eyes as he felt aggravation settling into a dull headache.  
  


He needed a nap.  
  


It didn't look like anything had been damaged this time, so there was nothing for him to clean up other than his own tools.  
  


He pushed himself upright, trudging back to his room, not bothering to undress this time around; he was feeling too drained. After kicking his shoes off, he settled himself under his blankets, hoping he would only sleep for about an hour or so.  
  


A bath later would probably help his mood, too.  
  


Even better, though, would be finding out what happened to Ven and Charlie. Finding out they were okay would probably put him more at ease, too, as he recalled the stressful encounter they had last time.   
  


Hopefully, things would go much smoother this time.


	10. Nothing Compares To You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your regularly scheduled programming has been interrupted.

The dread was tenfold when Varian opened his eyes. He didn't know it was possible to feel more tired after sleeping, but once he was aware that he was indeed awake, he felt anxiety coil in his stomach. He barely had the energy to push himself up into a sitting position, but he managed to stay upright by hugging his knees into his chest, resting his chin there. Nothing. He dreamed about absolutely nothing.  
  
  
His slumber was as empty as he felt right now.

  
He closed his eyes again, trying to will himself to relax.

  
He didn't get a visit from Ven or Charlie, and he was afraid of what that could mean. The last he saw of them, they had shot off into space because of some weird side effect of that star Mickey had.

  
Were they just lost?

  
Or were they..?

  
He let out a shaky breath, not wanting to finish that thought. He could barely handle seeing Charlie in distress, he really didn't want to think of her being hurt.

  
Or worse.

  
He didn't understand.

  
He hadn't gotten a single night's rest lately without dreaming of them, what could have changed this time?

  
And why did he _care_ so much?

  
He told himself over and over again that they weren't real, it was just a product of his imagination. There was nothing to get so attached to.

  
But at the same time, he couldn't seem to accept that he would be able to think up something so complex. Not only that, but he was a logical person; he didn't believe in magic, so why would he spend his resting hours imagining such fantastical worlds where magic ran everything?

  
None of it made sense.

  
Honestly, things stopped making sense the moment that crash outside of--  
  


His head shot up, hit with an epiphany.  
  


The metal.  
  


The metal was gone.  
  


 _That_ was the only thing that was different from the last time he slept.  
  


He was never one for superstitions, but he couldn't deny the facts. He didn't start having those dreams until he brought it home with him. He always kept it close to his person whenever he slept, whether it was in his pocket or on his nightstand.  
  


But now, he didn't. It wasn't anywhere near him, as far as he knew. Not since that raccoon got its hands on it.  
  


Paws, not hands.  
  


If that were the case, that meant all he had to do was get it back somehow. If he found out where it lived, he could probably--  
  


No.  
  


Was he insane?  
  


All this over _dreams_ ? He must be.  
  


…  
  


Yes.  
  


Yes, he was.  
  


  
  


The fact that the raccoon got in twice within a few days told him that it probably lived nearby, so hopefully finding it wouldn't be too hard.  
  


Of course, that was easier said than done. Where to start, he had no idea.  
  


Outside was probably a good start, maybe he should actually leave his house first.  
  


He stepped outside into the bright sun, shielding his eyes, yelping when he was suddenly face to face with the last person he planned to think about that day.  
  


"H-Hello, Ms. Eggerbeat." He said, afraid to meet her gaze. "What a surprise to see you. Is everything okay?"  
  


"Don't pretend you don't know why I'm here, boy. You and I both know what you did." She said, poking a bony finger against his chest.  
  


He really hoped she couldn't feel his heart pounding in his chest. How could she have found out he had fed her Heidi? She was so eager to eat, he figured there'd be no evidence left.  
  


"What I did? I have… no idea what you're talking about." He chuckled nervously, mentally kicking himself for being so obvious. He knew he wasn't a good liar, but he had no choice right now.  
  


It was life or death.  
  


"Don't play dumb with me. I know you took that pie from my window."  
  


He stared at her, trying to process what she'd just accused him of.  
  


She had no idea he had fed Heidi, which was good. But stealing pies? When had he _ever_ done something like that before?  
  


"Ms. Eggerbeat, I've been asleep for the last…" He looked up, checking where the sun was compared to when he was outside earlier. "... three hours, I haven't taken anything from anybody."  
  


She narrowed her eyes at him. "How lazy, sleeping in the middle of the day."  
  


He really couldn't win, could he?  
  


"Yes, a raccoon broke into the house again and… stole something from me." He blinked in realization. "Have you been having problems with them lately, too? Someone in town mentioned having a problem with raccoons getting too close to their house." He asked, no longer concerned about not being accused of the actual thing he did wrong.  
  


It was clear to him when she paused to think that she must have had issues with them. "Vernon did say he thought he saw one upstairs the other night, but he wasn't sure." She relented, resting her hands on her cane. "You're really telling me that it wasn't you?"  
  


He nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I know I've caused you problems before, but I'd never steal from anybody. I'm not that kind of person."  
  


She grumbled, reluctantly accepting his words. "Something needs to be done about these pesky raccoons. They cause nothing but trouble, and they've been getting a lot braver as of late." She complained.  
  


No apology, like he expected.  
  


"Well, I think that person in town was planning on figuring out some kind of trapping system to keep them from running around. I can let him know you're having problems next time I see him, if you want."  
  


He knew that if he told her _he_ was working on a solution, she would erupt into insults and protests. It was better for the both of them if he just pretended that the work belonged to someone else.  
  


With his track record, he really couldn't blame her for not trusting him. But he was only ever trying to help.  
  


"See that you do. I can't have these beasts roaming around stealing my food and harassing my chickens. The sooner it's handled, the better." She said, looking down her nose at him.  
  


A real feat, considering he was about half a foot taller than her.  
  


"I'll be sure to tell him soon. I can actually see if I can catch him right now, if you want. I was about to head into the market."  
  


No, he wasn't.  
  


"Then hurry off and go, boy. And be sure you stay out of trouble while you do." She said, shuffling away to her home, most likely.  
  


He waited until she was out of sight to slump with a sigh, shaking his head.  
  


She came in like a whirlwind and left just as quickly.  
  


He needed another nap…  
  


  
  


He wasn't sure how he managed to find himself back at the crash site, but his body chose to lead him there. He wasn't sure what he expected to find, but he felt more at ease upon his arrival. Maybe it was because it was where he first found the material that he was half convinced he might just stumble upon another one, or even the original one.  
  


It wasn't likely though.  
  


He ran a hand through his hair, taking a step closer to the new cavity in the ground. He was surprised to find a small pool of dirty water at the bottom. Had it rained recently? It must have happened overnight because he didn't recall hearing or seeing any.  
  


He wasn't about to hop in and get himself dirty, so instead, he decided to examine the area surrounding the crater. To him, everything else looked relatively undisturbed, and he couldn't see any signs of more metal fragments, much to his disappointment.  
  


He remembered the last time he was here, his eyes slowly traveling over to the tree. On his last visit here, he was sure there was something behind the tree, but he never got the chance to look because of the other villagers showing up.  
  


Honestly, it bothered him that he never found out what it was.  
  


He didn't notice the frown set on his face as he made his way over to the tree, resting his hand on it. He knew the likelihood of finding anything was slim, but he couldn't shake off the compulsion to look.  
  


He took a deep breath before leaning the rest of the way, peering around to the back of the tree.  
  


Nothing.  
  


Of course it was nothing.  
  


He sighed, shaking his head as he righted himself. He couldn't believe he had really allowed himself to get his hopes up. For all he knew, whatever _had_ been behind the tree wasn't anything friendly and might have even hurt him. He could have lucked out by leaving when he did.  
  


But something in him told him that wasn't the case.  
  


That same something told him it was something important.  
  


He sighed again, resting his back against the tree, allowing himself to slide down until he was sitting on the ground. He allowed one leg to hang over the side of the crater, taking a moment to try to relax.  
  


He felt like he hadn't slept in a week.  
  


He closed his eyes, feeling the sun warm his face. Other than the wind gently passing through the trees, it was totally quiet. Nothing else around him stirred, making him feel like he could really unwind.  
  


It was like a little pocket away from the village that was made just for him.  
  


He rested the back of his head against the tree, almost wishing that sleep would overtake him and prove to him that all his worrying was for nothing. He wanted to find out what was going to happen next with Ven and Charlie. He wanted to make sure they were safe.  
  


He didn't want to have to keep worrying about them.  
  


No matter how much he relaxed in his spot, though, sleep didn't try to sneak up on him. As vulnerable as he felt, he simply couldn't get himself to really rest.  
  


He was frustrated.  
  


He lifted his head off the tree and opened his eyes, letting out a snort.  
  


He couldn't believe himself.  
  


He had so many other things he could be doing right now that actually could make an impact on the lives of not just the village, but the whole kingdom, but here he was worrying about not having _dreams_ . He never used to care about them before, but now he was allowing himself to get worked up over them.  
  


Even worse, he was letting himself get distracted.  
  


He scoffed, getting to his feet and dusting off his apron, shaking his head as he started on his way back home.  
  


He just had to put all of this in the back of his mind and ignore it, and in no time everything would be back to normal.  
  


He just had to buckle down and get back to work on those tanks.  
  


  
  


Except that he couldn't.  
  


He'd talked himself up hours ago, sitting himself down at his desk to work on drawing up some plans for the construction, but he was staring at the blank pages in front of him, unable to bring himself to make a mark.  
  


He couldn't seem to figure out where to get started.  
  


Usually, his trouble lied in forcing himself to stop.  
  


He rested his elbows on the surface, burying his face in his hands.  
  


He just couldn't let it _go_ .  
  


It hadn't been very long, but he'd grown accustomed to seeing them, and their sudden absence seriously disrupted him in his waking hours.  
  


At this point, he was never going to get any of his projects done.  
  


He wanted to pull his hair out.  
  


He groaned, really hating his lack of inspiration. Or was it motivation? Maybe it was both, but he was too stressed to sort it out.  
  


Something suddenly clicked in his mind; a moment of clarity.  
  


He _did_ promise Marco he would help him with the raccoon problem.  
  


If he helped him figure out a way to _trap_ them, could he possibly find the one that was wreaking havoc? The odds didn't seem terrible. He'd already had a run-in with it twice, he figured it might be likely that it would come back, probably even soon.  
  


At this point, it was killing three birds with one stone.  
  


He could help Marco in return for his kindness.  
  


He could help the rest of the village with the problem.  
  


And he could see _them_ again.  
  


Before he knew it, the parchment in front of him was being flooded with formulas, sketches, and notes, his hand attempting to keep up with how fast his mind was moving.  
  


As impatient as he was, there really was no rush.  
  


He was pretty sure he would be at it all night.


	11. I Don't Know You Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third time's the charm, so they say.

How did he know his name was Lucifer?  
  


These thoughts weren't unusual for Varian anymore. Ever since he had started working on his plan to get that piece of metal back, he had time to think about the details of the dreams he was no longer having.  
  


Like the name of the cat that he never actually learned.  
  


He just…  _ knew _ .  
  


Jaq had never said the name properly, and Charlie even said that it most likely wasn't his real name. But for some reason the name Lucifer was stuck in his mind, and no matter how much he tried to shake it loose, it wouldn't budge.  
  


It just felt right.  
  


He leaned back in his seat, grunting as he felt his back pop in several places. He'd been hunched over for probably close to two hours, making sure the final kinks were all worked out on his creation.  
  


He rolled his neck, wincing when his neck responded in kink with some cracking of its own.  
  


He really needed to stretch.  
  


He stood, rubbing his strained eyes. He'd been staring down at the same spot for too long and needed a change of scenery.  
  


Not to mention the restless sleep he was still getting.  
  


He thought after five months he'd be used to it, but that wasn't the case.  
  


He'd finished the plan for trapping the furry nuisance ages ago. He had managed to come up with an adhesive that immobilized them humanely, and with a simple solvent, he could easily dissolve it and remove the offender from the premises. It had been successfully tested out at Marco's home, who said within a few days they had caught one of their own and removed it on their own without issue.  
  


Marco also had to pretend he was the creator when introducing it to Ms. Eggerbeat, because Varian knew without a doubt she would probably beat him with her cane if he so much as suggested stepping into her home.  
  


But the notoriety wasn't what he was after, so honestly, it was fine with him.  
  


Himself?  
  


Not one intruder.  
  


He had managed to convince his father to let him spread the substance around their house, both inside and outside with Marco's help, who assured him that it was totally harmless and easily removable, not to mention a total success. He made Varian promise that he wouldn't place it in any direct walkways, which gave him the chance to come up with creative ways for triggering its distribution.  
  


His solution?  
  


Tripwires.  
  


Instead of just dumping it onto the floor just to clean it up at the end of the day, he had created a film that he could fill with the substance that would easily burst when making contact with just about anything. It made it a lot easier to transport, too, and the trap wasn't exactly quiet, so whenever it would go off, he would easily be able to hear it no matter where he was in the house.  
  


He almost thought the animals figured out the traps, though, because ever since he had set them up, they hadn't had any issues.  
  


He'd managed to catch a few squirrels outside, sure, but no raccoons.  
  


And he had, unfortunately, been correct about his assumptions with the metal.  
  


He hadn't had a single dream about Ven or Charlie the entire time.  
  


The stress of not seeing the next part of their journey had worn off after about a week and a half, when he finally convinced himself that even if he were to see where they ended up, it wasn't like there was anything he could  _ do _ about it. Good or bad, it was what it was, and he just had to believe that he'd eventually be able to see them again, no matter where they got whisked away to.  
  


He felt guilty, though, when he woke up one day and realized that he couldn't remember what Ven looked like.  
  


It's not as though any feelings could be hurt, but especially in their absence, Varian felt attached, and with how poorly things had gone for them the last time he saw them, he almost felt like he was betraying him somehow.  
  


He had grabbed some blank parchment that same morning and attempted to draw Ven's face, but there was absolutely nothing he could do to salvage the memory of how the boy looked.  
  


Charlie, however, was a different story.  
  


Her face in particular was one of the few things he remembered clearly even all these months later, and he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because there was more mystery surrounding her that made her stick in his mind more, but with or without the mask, he was able to picture her vividly.  
  


He looked over to a paper sitting on his desk, where he had easily drawn  _ her _ face that watched him work, reminding him why he was working so hard.  
  


It seemed to be the good luck charm he needed because once he had propped her against the wall, he started finishing project after project like it was nobody's business.  
  


The adhesive was the first project he managed to finish, and since he could only wait for results, his mind cleared and opened up to the others he had been putting off, like the tanks. Those had taken quite a bit of time, but he managed to set up several under the village with all the free time he had, and when that was done, he decided to hold off on figuring out the heating portion of it.  
  


After all, with all the leaks he first had to fix, he didn't really want to add any more pressure to them if he didn't have to.  
  


With those finished, he had quite a few other ideas running around in his head, like how he had planned to test out the material when it was finally back in his possession. He had a few ideas back before it was stolen, but since he had to wait to actually utilize them, he had come up with several more that could possibly tell him what it was.  
  


He also figured out a way to test them all in one sitting.  
  


It was another big project, but he was able to dedicate a good portion of his lab to this endeavor, creating an entire station for it.  
  


He was glad he thought to put it near a window since the first test run left some parts… overheated.  
  


Okay, it caught fire.  
  


But once he worked it all out, it ran smoothly.  
  


His problem now, though, was that if he ever actually needed to figure out something he couldn't identify, he had no way of getting results he could understand.  
  


Which was why he was working on his own spectrometric press.  
  


He could hook it up to his station and once all the tests had concluded, it could tell him anything he needed to know about whatever he was testing, allowing him to determine its makeup.  
  


Hopefully, by the time he was finished with it, he'd be able to use it for the reason he was building it in the first place.  
  


He headed out of his lab, closing the door behind him. His father was home today and while he never invaded his privacy, Varian still liked the sense of privacy the closed door provided.  
  


"Good morning, son."  
  


Varian almost jumped out of his own skin.  
  


Speak of the devil.  
  


"Dad! Morning, I didn't see you there." He laughed a bit nervously, as though he had something to hide today.  
  


He didn't, but most days he did.  
  


"Didn't mean to sneak up on you. Are you feeling any better? You still look a bit tired."  
  


Varian's fatigue became obvious to his father the moment he came back from the festival, and it wasn't any use trying to hide it from him. Varian told him that he'd been feeling that way for a few days, and when it became clear to his father that he wasn't sick (as he had assumed) and that it wasn't getting worse (not that it was getting any better), he let the matter go.  
  


He still checked in with him every so often.  
  


"Oh, uh, not really. I definitely still feel tired, but I'm doing okay. Don't worry! I'll let you know if I feel something change."  
  


It wasn't a common occurrence, but he knew when his father was nervous.  
  


He had told Varian about how his mother had succumbed to an unknown illness when he was still young, and he had plenty of his own memories of his father hovering around him whenever he had so much as a fever over the years. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he had a fear of losing his son the same way.  
  


Quirin nodded, having no choice but to accept his answer.  
  


"Alright. Just don't push yourself too hard. I know you're still able to run around, but you never know when that could change."  
  


Quirin wasn't an open man; not with his feelings or… much of anything. Sometimes, it was hard for Varian to tell how he felt about just about anything, including himself.  
  


But in moments like this, he understood everything his father wasn't saying.  
  


"I know, Dad. I'll take it easy. I promise."  
  


His father nodded, lifting the cup in his hand so he could drink from it.  
  


"Are you getting hungry or--"  
  


A muffled cry from behind them interrupted whatever his father had been about to ask him, making them both turn to look in the direction it came from. It was quickly followed by the sound of something bursting and a loud splash, with another cry before it all went quiet again.  
  


It came from behind the door Varian had just walked out of.  
  


"Wait, hold that thought, Dad! I think I caught something!" He said, dashing back towards his lab, heart jumping with hope with each step he took.  
  


"Be careful, Varian!"  
  


He barely registered the warning before he opened the door and hopped through the threshold, closing it behind him again.  
  


He turned around, and the sight before him made him break out in a large grin.  
  


His trap had worked.  
  


Just a few feet in front of him, a raccoon attempted to pry its feet from the pink substance keeping it in place. All of its paws were stuck, so there was no way it was going to get away without his help.  
  


Not that having anything free would have helped.  
  


"Hey there, little guy. Looks like someone is stuck."  
  


The raccoon tried to crane its head to look at him, clearly upset with the situation it landed itself in.  
  


Varian, on the other hand, couldn't be happier.  
  


Well, that wasn't true.  
  


"Are you the one I'm looking for?"  
  


He stepped forward, carefully moving around the goo so as not to trap himself in it.  
  


He stopped just as he was about to step down, noticing a familiar glint on the floor just below him.  
  


His heart started pounding, afraid to get his hopes up as he kneeled down to carefully pick it up.  
  


There was no doubt as he flipped it over in his hand.  
  


He had found it again.  
  


He could feel every bit of tension leave his body, curling his fingers around it and holding it to his chest. His neck and his back no longer hurt, and he felt like he could run to the next kingdom over and back again.  
  


Angry chittering broke him out of his line of thought, seeing the raccoon started to aggressively attempt to free itself from its holding.  
  


"Whoa, hey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself." Varian pocketed the metal in his apron as he grabbed the salt shaker full of solvent out, stepping closer to the animal. "Let me help you out."  
  


The intruder eyed him, not at all looking like the friendly critter that had climbed into his lab the first two times. Was this the same one, or had it just stolen the material from the one that was there the first time?  
  


He realized the likelihood of telling raccoons apart was probably pretty low.  
  


"I gotcha. This won't hurt at all."  
  


He tipped the shaker on its side, sprinkling the solvent on adhesive, watching it dissolve before his very eyes, as though it had never been there at all.  
  


He pulled back in surprise when the animal used its one free paw to grab at him, gripping his apron.  
  


"Hey, no, relax! Let go." Varian carefully pulled the apron out from its tiny grasp, blinking when he realized where it had grabbed.  
  


It was the same pocket he had just put the metal in.  
  


The little guy desperately wanted it, too.  
  


"Interesting…"  
  


He tried to look the raccoon in the eye, but its attention was focused on the end of his apron, clearly only caring about one thing.  
  


"Listen, I'm sorry, but I can't let you have this. I found it first, and I'm taking it back."  
  


He paused.  
  


"I get why you like it so much, though…"  
  


He sighed.  
  


He was conversing with a raccoon.  
  


He was really glad his father was in the other room, not witnessing this.  
  


He carefully freed the rest of the raccoon's paws, catching it before it could get too far and attempt to dig around in his apron, though it did put up a good fight.  
  


He stood up, making his way to the door, somehow getting it open despite all the squirming going on.  
  


How he didn't drop the poor thing, he didn't know.  
  


"Varian, what in the--"  
  


"Dad, can you get the door? And hurry?"  
  


His father didn't have to be asked twice; in just a few strides, he had made it to the front door and opened it, letting Varian gently toss the creature out and away. Quirin quickly shut the door before it could get back in, and they could hear it scratching at the door.  
  


"Are you alright? Did it hurt you?"  
  


Varian shook his head.  
  


"No, I'm okay." He smiled. "It worked. I caught it."  
  


His father nodded, looking him up and down to assess the damage for himself.  
  


"You're sure? No scratches?" He asked.  
  


Varian chuckled. "No, Dad, I promise. It just tried to get away from me, that's all."  
  


Quirin nodded, relenting and dropping the line of questioning. "Well, I'd say it's been an eventful morning. What do you plan to do now?"  
  


Varian thought it over for a moment before grinning again.   
  


"I think I'll take a nap."


	12. My Petersburg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ven and Charlie reunite with familiar faces in a not-so-sleepy town

Charlie's head hurt.

That was the first thing she took note of when she found herself stirring from a sleep she didn't remember falling into.

The second thing was that whatever surface she was laying on was extremely uncomfortable.

She cracked her eyes open, squinting at the bright sunlight beating down on her. She still couldn't see anything, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the sun or the harsh throbbing on the back of her head.

She rolled over onto her left side to try to face away from the sun, only to hiss and recoil as she quickly rolled the other way, holding her upper arm protectively.

That  _ stung _ .

She opened her eyes just a little more, and the first thing she noticed was a gray stone pattern beneath her. That explained why she felt so stiff; who knew how long she had been there. It could have been hours.

Once the pain in her arm had died down, she moved her hand to her face to check her mask.

Still straight.

She braced herself before forcing herself to sit up, groaning at the resistance her body gave to the motion. She couldn't move too fast; she felt like her head was going to explode.

She took her time absorbing her surroundings. She had clearly landed in a town square of sorts that was on a lower level with four slopes offering the way to the upper level. The corners of the square were decorated with beds of flowers directly in front of waterfall fountains. On the upper level on either side of her were the sides of some cozy little houses, but directly in front of her was a large gate leading to a large stairway.

She wasn't sure where it led.

She gingerly touched the back of her head, wincing when she touched the goose egg forming there. Clearly, she hit it when she fell, but she was lucky it didn't end up worse.

At least for now she could say as much.

She looked around, realizing she was close to one of the flower beds, allowing her a better view of the square. She told herself to remain calm when she felt uneasiness at the thought of being there alone starting to creep in, but then felt a rush of relief when her eyes landed on just the thing she was looking for.

She carefully stood up, and she almost fell down again when a vertigo wave crashed into her, making her hold her head again. She closed her eyes, trying to get the spinning to stop. She kept the nausea at bay as best she could, feeling like she barely won the fight as she felt it slowly dissolve, and she felt like she was on solid ground again.

She hoped that wouldn't happen too often.

She opened her eyes again and carefully made her way over to the flowerbed to her left, seeing a familiar pair of shoes sticking out in contrast to the bright colors of the flowers. She felt bad that she had to step on them, doing her best to do as little damage as possible.

She hoped Ven's landing was softer than hers was.

She carefully kneeled by his upper body, checking to see if he had any serious injuries that she needed to immediately worry about. Relieved when she found none, she lightly touched his head to turn it, checking the back to see if he was bleeding or not.

Nothing to worry about.

She let out a breath, shoulders relaxing and she rested her hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently.

"Ven, wake up."

He let out a soft hum as he stirred, barely opening his eyes, and she realized he was staring straight up into the sun, so she moved her free hand to shield his eyes so he could properly see.

"Charlie?"

She nodded. "Yeah. How do you feel? Does anything hurt?" She asked, keeping her voice low so she wasn't too rough on his senses.

He looked up at her, not answering her right away. He took note of how his body felt before speaking.

"I'm kinda sore… and my head hurts. But I'm okay. Are you?"

"A little dizzy and I've got a killer headache but I'll live." She replied. "Just take it slow, you don't want to make yourself sick."

He nodded, closing his eyes again. "Where are we?" He asked.

"I have no idea. Some kind of town square. I haven't seen anyone else around though, just us."

He slowly nodded, swallowing before he opened his eyes again, carefully sitting up with her help to take a look around for himself. "It's not anywhere I've ever seen before, either… And it's a lot different from where we just were."

She snorted. "You can say that again."

Ven suddenly saw movement out of the corner of his eye, turning his head to focus on it. He was surprised to see a familiar figure walking out of the main square and towards some of the housing.

"Mickey..?"

Charlie blinked and looked in the same direction, but the mouse had just walked out of view. "You saw him?"

"Yeah, he just went that way." Ven pointed ahead of him, quickly getting to his feet before holding out his hand to her. "Are you okay to move?"

She took the offered hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. "Well, I didn't feel sick this time, so I think so. But not too fast. I don't want to press my luck."

Ven nodded. "Okay. We'll take it easy then." He said, dropping her hand as they both started walking in the direction the mouse had walked off in.

It was a good thing Charlie recovered as quickly as she did, because the amount of fighting that followed was unreal.

Once they passed through the housing district, they had come upon a grassy area with a flight of stairs leading up to what looked like the gates of a castle, and as soon as they left the safety of the stone walkway, wave after wave of unversed appeared to try to make them turn back.

Even with her lack of experience, she had no trouble weaving in and out of the line of fire, whether to take a swing of her own or to distract and leave an opening for Ven. It was her first time combatting the unversed with the Keyblade, and while she still wasn't confident in taking the offensive against them, it was easily a success.

Needless to say, he was impressed.

"I didn't know you could move like that. Where did you learn to do that?" He asked once the area had been cleared.

Charlie dismissed her Keyblade, adjusting her mask subconsciously. All the quick movements caused the fabric to shift, but she was already so accustomed to compulsively fixing it that Ven doubted she even realized she was doing it at all.

"Theater."

He blinked again.

"What?"

She shook her head. "I do musical theater. I've actually been doing it for the last ten years. So I've had a lot of practice moving my body around." She said, not looking at him. 

He perked up, everything suddenly making sense. "Oh! That's why you walk like that."

She furrowed her brow, confused. "Walk like what?"

He smiled at her, fixing his posture to try to imitate her. "You're always standing straight, and you hold your shoulders back a little. And whenever you walk, you always look like you know where you're going, even if you have no idea where you are."

Now she was looking at him, her eyes full of disbelief. "Is that what I really look like?"

"Yeah! It's hard to explain, but… it's kind of like whenever you step forward, it's really… what's the word… like you did it on purpose."

She tilted her head. "Deliberate?"

"Yeah! There's a lot of confidence there when you do it. Like you're meant to be there."

He was surprised to see her looking almost startled by that last comment. She looked down at her feet with a look that seemed to say that she was learning something new.

"Well, I didn't know that's how I came across to people. But… yeah, that's probably why I walk like that." She said before turning her attention back to him. "Mom says I also have really good balance, which helps a lot."

Ven couldn't hide his smile. "It didn't seem like it back when you--"

" _ Don't. _ "

"-- got knocked into the lake." He barely made it to the end of his sentence before he started snickering.

"Ha, ha. Very funny. Better be careful before I knock _ you _ into a lake." She said with absolutely no edge to her voice, clearly joking.

He laughed. "Yeah, okay, sorry." He continued to snicker.

She looked over at the open gates that were just ahead of them now. "So you're sure you saw him come this way? I hope we aren't too far behind him."

He calmed down, nodding his head. "Yeah, no doubt about it. If we hurry, maybe we can catch up. You can run now, right?"

She nodded in return. "My headache is mostly gone and I feel okay. We can pick up the pace."

He smiled a bit wider. "Okay. Then let's get going." He said, taking off after Mickey.

She hung back for just a moment, looking thoughtful as she looked at her feet again.

"Like I'm meant to be there…"

She shook her head before chasing after him, leaving the thought behind.

They quickly ran up another set of stairs, leading them to what was indeed a castle. While there was still no sign of Mickey anywhere, two solidly-built men were standing on either side of the large front door to the building, who they could only assume to be guards based on their matching uniforms. Oddly enough, as they approached, it became clear that both of their eyes were closed, so the two teenagers continued forward, intending to go through the door.

So it was a big surprise when there were suddenly two unique weapons blocking their path.

Ven stopped just short of running into them, and with such short notice, Charlie dug her heels into the ground to try to stop, but her momentum caused her to bump into his back, almost knocking them both over. She grabbed hold of his shoulders as she steadied herself, keeping herself upright and stopping him from having an unfortunate accident with the newly produced weapons.

"Hold on." The one on the left said.

"The castle is presently closed." Said the other.

The shorter man on the left had long black dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail, with only one loose lock hanging near his face. He had thick sideburns and violet eyes that bore into the both of them as he held out his lance in front of them. The other was taller and had an angular face, his ginger hair slicked back into messy spikes and small blue eyes. His weapon resembled an axe but was unlike any the teenagers had ever seen before.

Both men wore matching uniforms, mostly dark gray with several gold buttons up the front with a silver border. On their chests, just between their clavicles was a red heart with a white outline and matching blue hearts on the cuffs of their white gloves.

They looked like they meant business.

"But somebody just came this way! He's a friend of ours!" Ven protested, not moving from where he was standing.

The two men looked at each other as if having their own silent conversation before the one on the left spoke.

"We aren't aware of any visitors. Now run along home before the monsters get you."

Ven suddenly felt doubt creep in. From what he could tell, there was nowhere else Mickey could have gone after coming up the stairs, so if he didn't pass through, where could he be?

He looked over his shoulder at Charlie, frowning. "I coulda sworn it was him…"

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, blinking as he looked past her and gasped at what he saw rising into the air in full view of everyone present.

It was unmistakably unversed, but a different breed from anything they'd ever seen. It was mostly red and black, and when it turned around to face them, showed some blue. What was clearly the head had a set of angry red eyes, the "neck" and "chest" set in what looked like a diamond shape.

It felt… incomplete.

"They're here!"

Charlie looked at the taller man, blinking when both he and his companion stepped forward, clearly intending to fight it themselves.

"Radiant Garden shall not fall to the likes of you."

She exchanged a look with Ven, having their own silent conversation before nodding to each other and moving towards the unversed themselves.

"Leave it to us!" Ven called over his shoulder without slowing down.

Charlie did the same, adding a friendly wave. "Consider it our apology for bothering you!" She added, ignoring when the taller man reached out as if to stop them.

"Stop!"

"But you're just children!"

Neither of them listened, heading down the stairs, but not without Charlie trying to shake off the sudden feeling of being watched.

It seemed they caught up with the shadow creature just in time.

As they found themselves back in the town square, it was not only now occupied by the unversed, but it had started a slow advance toward an innocent citizen.

This one, like Mickey, wasn't human.

There was no doubt that this one was a duck. He donned a blue jacket, a yellow button neatly framed by a red folded down collar with matching cuffs. The tops of his webbed feet were covered with red spats to match. Atop his head was a black top hat with a red band near its brim, and sitting on top of his yellow bill was a pair of round glasses.

He was backing away from the unversed, swinging his cane at it.

"Ach! How dare ye!? Back off, ye fiend!" He yelled, trying to put some distance between them. "Ye'll not be gettin'  _ my _ money!"

Thinking fast, Ven reared back with Keyblade in hand. "Look out!" He shouted before throwing the weapon at the unversed, managing to hit it square on

Charlie couldn't believe she hadn't considered that an option for combat.

The move was successful, as the unversed turned its attention away from the poor civilian and moved on, heading away from Ven and Charlie. Ven called his Keyblade back to him and they began to take off after it, but they didn't get very far.

"Wait a moment, you two!"

The voice of the duck surprised them, making them stop and turn to look at him as he approached them.

"Dinnae I even get a chance to repay ye?"

Ven dismissed his Keyblade. "Oh, you don't have to!"

The duck didn't accept that answer.

"Now, jus' hold yer horses. I dinnae mean my fortune. Maybe a wee bit o' gold, or a token of…"

Every moment the duck spent contemplating, the more likely the unversed was going to get away.

"Sir, we appreciate it, but we really should be getting after that thing before it can hurt anybody else." Charlie said, trying to move the conversation along as politely as possible.

"I know! I've just the thing in me hat!" The duck finally decided, chuckling as he pulled his hat off his head. He motioned for them to move closer. "C'mere."

They did as they were instructed, leaning down as he conspiratorially hid his mouth behind his hat.

"Ye can tell me, lad. You came here from another world, didn't ye?"

That was the last thing Ven expected to come out of his mouth, and the shock was obvious on his face.

This just made the duck snicker more.

"Dinnae worry. My bill is sealed. Yer secret's safe with me. I'll not be asking ye any awkward questions. Ye see, 'tis the same with me. I asked a wizard named Merlin to bring me here from another world. After all, adventure is the mother of industry!"

Ven's face was full of wonder at the admission, while Charlie's eyes betrayed the fact that she was deep in thought. But the moment of contemplation broke for the both of them as they simultaneously remembered what they had been doing.

"Great! Is that all?" Ven asked, standing up straight again.

"Ach, but I'm holdin' ye up." The duck finally reached into his hat, pulling out a set of four small, rectangular cards, holding them out to Ven. "Here. These are lifetime passes to Disney Town. Ye'll have buckets o' fun there, or my name is not Scrooge McDuck." He chuckled. "There ye are-- enough for you, your lady, an' two grown-ups."

Ven took the cards, looking at them curiously, examining the color cards closely. He hummed in thought, then nodded in approval.

Then it hit him.

"Wait, my what?" He looked at Scrooge, thinking he might have heard wrong.

"Is that not what this is?" Scrooge asked, motioning between the two teenagers as Charlie reached over to take a card for herself from Ven.

"What? No! No, we're not like that!" Ven said, waving his hands in front of him.

Charlie furrowed her brow. "Gee, you sure were quick to shoot  _ that _ down." She said, sounding wounded.

Ven looked at her in disbelief, his cheeks turning pink. "But we're not!"

"Would it be so bad, though? Is there something wrong with me?"

"Wha-- seriously? You're doing this right now?" He looked at her, now able to tell she was just trying to tease him.

"Absolutely."

Scrooge laughed, wiping at his eye. "Oh, I see, now." He said, shaking his head. "My mistake. Well, I've taken enough of yer time, ye best run off after that brute before it shakes down someone else." He waved them off with a shooing motion. "Off ye go. An' be careful."

Ven shook his head, sighing as he pocketed the passes. "Don't worry, we'll make sure to be. And thanks again." He said, watching Charlie nod in agreement.

"Dinnae mention it. Jus' make sure ye have fun with it."

Ven turned around, back to business as they followed after the unversed again, hoping they hadn't fallen too far behind.

They chased the shadow through another housing district, getting close to it, but not close enough.

Just as they seemed to be just within fighting distance, it turned a corner, heading out of the district into another area. Ven and Charlie continued to give chase until another new voice stopped them.

"Hang it all! Can't I get a moment's peace?"

They slid to a stop, turning to the figure that just walked out his front door.

An elderly man with long stark-white hair and an even longer beard to match stepped forward. He wore a dark blue polyester trench coat with a pair of dark baggy pants, with black boots swallowing the ends of the pant legs. His hands were covered with dark brown fingerless gloves, and on his head was a dark blue beanie.

He definitely clashed with the surrounding atmosphere.

"Mister, get inside! It's not safe out here!" Ven said, trying to urge him to return to safety.

"Oh, ordering me about-- now  _ that's _ unsafe." The man said. "After all, I'm Merlin the Wizard."

Charlie stared at him with wide eyes, absolutely stunned.

Merlin, however, paid her no mind, instead studying Ven for a moment.

"Oho, another scamp looking to wake the powers inside him, is that it?" Merlin asked.

Ven blinked. "What? How'd you know?"

The old man chuckled, waving his hand, addressing Ven, though his eyes landed on Charlie.

"We wizards have a knack for knowing such things."

Charlie raised her eyebrows for a brief moment before they furrowed suspiciously.

Merlin looked back to the boy, who didn't notice the exchange at all.

"The book is inside on the table. You may have a gander, if you like."

With that, he turned on his heel, stepping through his doorway before closing it behind him.

Ven took a few curious steps forward, looking at the door in question. "What book?" He wondered aloud, tilting his head.

He didn't have long to contemplate his next move, because Charlie was suddenly walking past him, striding right up to the door and opening it without bothering to knock.

"Whoa, hey-- what are you doing?" He followed after her, surprised.

Other than when they fought Maleficent, Charlie had been nothing short of polite to everyone, as far as he knew. She thanked people more often than she probably realized and apologized when she thought it was necessary, so to watch her barge into someone's home was very out of character.

Something was up.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "He said we could look at the book if we wanted. He was inviting us in. So come on, I know you want to see it."

He frowned. She was technically right; he had permitted them to look at the book, but he still felt strange just strolling into a stranger's home.

"Yeah…"

He watched her step inside and he quickly moved in behind her.

The first word that came to Ven's mind when seeing the inside was "cozy".

While it wasn't overly cramped, there was definitely plenty of furniture to make it appear that it was lived in. Both directly to their left and in the corner directly in front of them were alarming piles of books that clearly couldn't find a home in the bookcase across the room. It had been filled to capacity and looked as though any attempt to remove a single book would bring the entire thing crashing down. In the middle of the room was a nice round table with a white cloth sitting in front of an orange armchair, a teapot and cup sitting comfortably on top of the table.

And across the room from them sat a book, waiting on display to be read.

Charlie motioned for Ven to go first with a tilt of her head, and he stepped further into the room. Merlin didn't seem at all surprised or concerned to have them in his house, so it helped Ven feel better about just strolling in. He stepped up to the display and took in the cover of the book before reaching over to pick it up.

It was a fairly large book with a light brown cover, and a matching strap that connected to a latch on the front to hold the book closed. A majority of the cover was painted by hand, with a simple white background. The picture depicted a shallow hollowed-out tree with a small pink piglet hiding out inside the hollow base next to a honeypot, which was smiling up at a yellow bear that was wearing a red shirt. Atop one of the branches was a tiger that seemed to be greeting a trio of birds. The words at the top were written in clear, bold print.

_ Winnie the Pooh _ .

Ven undid the latch and opened to the front page, and while he was absorbing its contents, he felt both light and warm. Honestly, he couldn't say with any certainty that he was even  _ reading _ ; he couldn't seem to remember the words once he finished them, but it didn't seem to matter. He could feel something shifting in him the longer he held it, including an increase of confidence. 

It must have been whatever magic Merlin had cast on it.

Once the feeling started to fade, he turned to Charlie with a huge smile on his face, holding it out to her. After a moment she took it from him, reading it herself.

Ever since she first stepped up to the front door, she seemed tense, but with every second that passed, Ven could see her relax, all the way down to her fingers as they stopped stiffly flipping the pages. When she finished, her eyes smiled at him as she gave it back to him to set back on the display.

"Thanks, Ven."

He smiled back with a nod.

"I must be more popular than I thought." Merlin said, breaking the moment between them. "So many guests, and all on the same day."

Ven wasn't sure who else had been by, but it wasn't all that important. They still had something they had to take care of.

"Thanks for letting us look at the book. I think it might help." He said, turning back to Charlie. "Are you ready to go?"

Her eyes shifted back over to Merlin for a brief moment before she answered.

"You go ahead. I'll meet you here when you're done."

Ven was taken aback.

"What? Why?"

She crossed her arms.

"Scrooge said that Merlin was the man who brought him here from another world. Meaning he might have some answers on how to help me get home. So I want to ask him some questions." She said.

Ven perked up. "Yeah, that's actually a great idea. I didn't even think of that. You'll be here when I come back?"

She nodded. "Either in here or waiting outside, depending on how it goes. Don't worry."

Ven nodded, hesitating before gently reaching out to grip her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance. Even though she was good at hiding it, he had to assume she was still nervous about finding her way home.

It was something anyone would worry about.

"We'll get you home. I promise."

She reached up her gloved hand to rest over his, letting him know that the words and gesture were appreciated.

"I know."

He grinned at her, dropping his hand as he headed for the door. "Good luck." He said, opening it and turning around to look at her one more time.

She gave him a small wave. "You too, Ven. Be careful."

He nodded before closing the door, leaving on his own.

"Rather sweet one, isn't he?"

Charlie looked back over at Merlin after he spoke, back to crossing her arms.

"Seems like a good traveling partner." He continued, not at all sounding like he had when he was speaking to them outside.

All Charlie did was hum in response, not agreeing or disagreeing with him.

He shrugged. "Well, then. What was it you wanted to discuss with me?"

She shook her head at him. "I told him I had questions for Merlin." She said, not budging from her spot.

He squinted at her. "I  _ am _ Merlin." He said, crossing his own arms to poke fun at her.

"Not right now, you're not."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "And what would make you say something like that?"

"You tell me, Dragoon."

A tense silence hung in the air. Both of them stared at each other and neither of them moved, leaving the room feeling eerily empty despite the homely atmosphere.

Merlin's face broke into a toothy grin as a laugh began to rumble from his chest, soon escaping from his open mouth as his amusement grew. He reached for the front of his coat, undoing the buttons to take it off.

Charlie watched gold flash in his eyes just before his beard completely disappeared from his face, his white hair regressing and growing backward into a shorter cut that was black in color when he took off the beanie. Every wrinkle seemed to melt away from his face and his posture seemed to right itself, no longer looking like an old man, but instead a man in his 20s. He shed his coat, letting it drop, though it disappeared before it could hit the ground, and he pulled the gloves off his hands, showing just how long and bony his fingers were. In fact, his entire frame was thinner now that he wasn't hiding under the coat; instead now only wearing a simple solid blue shirt with a red neckerchief hanging around his neck.

He motioned to his own face before he spoke. "You can take that off, there's no danger of any of that in here. You can relax."

She hesitated before taking his word, peeling the mask off her face and setting it in her back pocket. She used the back of her forearm to wipe at her mouth, clearing it of all the sweat collecting there.

He then held his hand out towards the table. "Let's sit, you must be tired. You've been through quite a lot, I'm sure."

His warm smile gave him a boyish charm, making Charlie feeling much more relaxed compared to the other form he had taken. She nodded, stepping over to the new chair that had suddenly appeared as it pulled back to allow her to sit, pushing itself back in once she was settled.

Merlin sat across from her, the teapot lifting on its own and pouring hot tea into the cup beside it before it slid over in front of her.

Charlie didn't bat an eye at any of it, reaching up to hook her finger through the handle.

"Thank you."

Merlin nodded before resting his arms on the table, leaning forward to get a better look at her.

"I take it he doesn't know yet."

Charlie eyed him over the rim of her cup as she took a drink. The tea was just cool enough for her to drink comfortably.

She wasn't surprised.

"That depends on what you're talking about." She said, lowering it to its place on the saucer.

"About how much you know."

Her mouth set in a thin line as her brow furrowed, looking down at the tea in front of her. She ran her thumb absently along the rim of the cup, trying to ease her uneasy stomach.

"No. He doesn't." She said, voice quiet. "But if you were him, would you believe me if I told you?"

Merlin frowned, breathing heavily out of his nose as he folded his hands together on the table. "No. I suppose not. That would be rather hard to believe." He agreed.

Charlie nodded, looking guilty. "I don't like hiding it from him. But it sounds insane, even to me." She looked up at him. "And just because I know something doesn't mean I can do anything about it. It isn't doing me any favors. If anything it's stressing me out."

Merlin hummed. "Perhaps for now. This is all new to you, but that doesn't mean you're powerless. You're meant for great things."

Charlie raised her eyebrows at that but then squinted suspiciously at him. "That's something I need to ask you about." She said, letting go of the cup for the moment to focus more on him.

"I'm listening."

She took in a breath. "When I first met Ven, I couldn't remember what happened to me. But hitting my head earlier seemed to knock something loose, because now I very clearly remember where I was. And who I was with."

Merlin tilted his head, his eyes flashing gold again as the fireplace behind him suddenly roared to life, beginning to warm the room. "I see." He said.

She nodded. "I didn't end up in that mine on accident. You put me there."

It wasn't an accusation of any sort, but it wasn't a question, either.

"I did." He admitted.

She frowned.

"Why?"

He shook his head. "If you remember meeting me, then I'm sure you remember what happened directly after that."

Charlie's shoulders tensed and she clenched her fists. It was a thought she had been avoiding, but she knew once she remembered that she would eventually have to address it.

She wasn't sure if she was ready for the answer.

"Yes." She said softly, suddenly finding it hard for her voice to pass through her throat. She swallowed, feeling herself begin to sweat, though it wasn't from the fireplace.

She attempted to steady her breathing before continuing.

"So… does that mean I--"

Her voice failed her before she could finish her question, afraid to speak the possibility into existence.

Merlin looked at her with apologetic eyes, reaching out and resting a hand comfortingly over hers.

"Yes. I'm sorry."

The tension in her chest broke like a dam, releasing pain and heartbreak as her body curled in on itself, making her hunch over the table.

Merlin was out of his seat in the blink of an eye, moving to kneel by her side without letting go of her hand, using his other arm to pull her into his chest. He held her as she cried, cradling her head gingerly. Her keening was muffled against his chest but rang loudly in his ears, making his heart hurt for her.

Neither of them moved from this position for several long moments, allowing the wave of grief to pass naturally. He didn't loosen his grip on her until he felt her begin to pull away on her own, watching her look at his shirt.

"I'm sorry. You're all wet."

He smiled sadly at her, eyes flashing before there was suddenly no trace of her distress left on his clothes.

"It's alright. But the important question is are you?"

She sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'll be fine." She said, not meeting his eyes.

He reached up, brushing her hair out of her face. "You can take as long as you need. It's alright."

She shook her head. "I still have questions. And getting answers might help me feel better."

Merlin shook his head but didn't argue with her. "Alright. I can do that."

She took a deep breath, resting her hands on her knees. She felt tired, but no amount of sleep would be able to relieve her.

"Did you know it was going to happen?"

Merlin frowned, offering a small nod. "Yes. I was too late to stop it." He said, sounding guilty. His hand moved to rest over her own, trying to coax it out of gripping her knee so tightly.

She nodded. "So you were there to do something. What was it?" She asked, bringing her eyes up to look at him.

He gently squeezed her hand. "I was there for you."

She shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I know it doesn't now. And I wish I could explain everything, but it would take all day, and we don't have that kind of time. But if you know me the way I think you do, then you know I see things you don't. Things you can't. And that I always have a good reason for doing the things I do." He said. "Do you trust that I know what I'm doing?" He asked, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles soothingly.

She breathed out through her nose, nodding. "Yes. I do. But I'm not--"

"Your Keyblade suggests otherwise, doesn't it?"

She closed her mouth, her argument dying in her throat.

He had a point.

"You know what to expect. Mostly. But you still have a lot to learn about yourself and where you fit into everything. But you'll eventually learn when you're supposed to, and you'll understand." He said, letting her hand go and getting to his feet. "Can you accept that for now?"

She scowled. "Do I have a choice?"

"Not really, no."

She sighed, defeated. "Then I guess I'll have to." She rubbed at her eyes again, sniffling. When she dropped her hand, she blinked in surprise at seeing him holding out a handkerchief for her.

No doubt having materialized it out of nowhere.

She scoffed playfully as she took it from him, folding it. "Showoff." She said as she cleaned her face with it.

Merlin chuckled at her, and she let out a few of her own, the tension fully leaving the room. He returned to his seat, smiling at her as he watched her place the handkerchief off to the side on the table.

"Now, what other questions do you have?"

Ven's day couldn't possibly get worse.

He'd managed to catch up to both Aqua and Terra, but things had gone the complete opposite of how he'd hoped. Not only did Terra slip away again, but he'd learned a really harsh truth from Aqua about why she had come after them in the first place.

He really hoped Charlie was having more luck than him.

Speaking of, once he turned the corner into the housing district where Merlin lived, he spotted her sitting on his porch, totally unaware of his presence. She was writing in a small red pocketbook, and by the looks of it, she was a few pages in.

He never remembered seeing that before.

He put on a smile and jogged over to her, catching her attention when he spoke.

"Hey! Where'd you get that?"

She blinked and looked at him, adjusting the mask more securely over her face. "Merlin gave it to me. I told him the kind of things we've been up to and he thought it was a good idea to write it down. Places we've been, unversed we've seen. Something we can reference later if we ever need it."

He tilted his head. "Huh… well, if he thinks it's a good idea." He dismissed his own skepticism with a shrug. "Was he able to help you figure out a way to get home?"

It was then that he noticed the puffiness and redness of her eyes.

"Wait. You've been crying. Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

The last time she cried, she had been terrified. He was on high alert, afraid he had missed something serious.

"It's okay, Ven, I'm fine. He gave me a lot of answers I was looking for. It's just going to be a lot more complicated than I expected it to be." She assured him, getting to her feet. "A lot of time and even more effort. So getting me home is going to have to wait for now." She closed the book with one hand, letting it hang at her side. "It looks like you took care of that unversed without any problems."

Ven frowned, looking at the ground at his feet. "Yeah… I actually ran into Aqua and Terra when I caught up to it. They helped me get rid of it."

Charlie raised her eyebrows at him. "Yet you're not happy about it."

He shook his head, clenching his fists. "Aqua only came after us because Master Eraqus ordered her to. Because they don't trust Terra to not give in to the darkness. That's also why she tried to take me home the last time we saw her. She thinks this is too dangerous for me."

His shoulders slumped when he finished talking. Even though his mood was still shot, it helped to get it out in the open like that.

"Ven…"

He looked at her again, her brow furrowed sympathetically as she looked back at him.

"I'm really sorry. That's a lot to think about."

He nodded. "Yeah… it sounds like we both got some news we didn't want."

She hummed in agreement, lifting the book up again, and it wasn't until then that he noticed the front cover of the book. Emblazoned across the red leather were three tightly coiled golden spirals, all their strands meeting together in the middle. She grabbed the string attached to the back and wrapped it around the book a few times, securing it shut.

"Well, I've got to say, pouting out here hasn't helped me feel better. Want to go find a better place for pouting together?" She asked, sticking the book in her bag.

He blinked. "Huh?"

She stepped off the porch, motioning towards the town square. "I don't really feel like sticking around here. Maybe walking around will help us get back on our feet."

He frowned but nodded. She had a point; they weren't going to get anywhere by just sitting there. Even if they didn't feel better, it might help them be productive.

"Yeah, okay."

She headed towards the exit first with Ven following close behind. He couldn't help but note that this was the first time she had taken the lead since they first met; he wasn't used to seeing her back.

He didn't mind it.

They soon found themselves back at the town square, but their leisurely stroll quickly turned into a sprint. It didn't take long for them to see the amount of unversed attempting to corner another civilian.

This time, though, it wasn't an old man.

A young boy with silver hair stood in the middle of the square, outwardly unfazed by the situation he found himself in. He wore a starched white lab coat that was clearly too large for him, the sleeves hanging past his wrists. He had baggy blue pants, the cuffs hanging over the top of darker blue shoes, the entire outfit making him appear smaller than he really was.

Ven got to him first, quickly putting himself between the boy and the unversed, Keyblade drawn. He looked over his shoulder at the boy, who still looked nonplussed.

"Run!"

Charlie arrived shortly after, reaching down to take the boy's hand. "I'll get him out of here. You just worry about taking care of them." She said, pulling gently to lead the boy away.

"Okay, be careful!"

Charlie nodded, getting the boy to follow her back the way she had come with no resistance. She got him to the edge of the residential district before she slowed down, looking down at him.

"Are you alright?"

He looked back up at her, the fringe of his hair hanging over one of his blue eyes, hiding it from view. There was no change in his facial expression, and he didn't bother to answer her.

She tilted her head at him, but still got no response.

"I'll take that as a yes…"

She peeked around the corner, checking in on Ven. He seemed to be holding his own just fine, so she allowed herself to let her own guard down and focus her attention on her new companion.

"I'm Charlie. What's your name?"

Silence.

"Are you lost? Do you have someone looking for you?"

Nothing.

She ran a hand through her hair nervously, sighing. "Okay then." She said, letting go of his hand.

He continued to look at her, and she couldn't tell if he was staring into space or into her soul.

She supposed it didn't matter.

"Well, Ven should be done pretty soon. We'll let him handle it and then go check on him."

She leaned against the wall behind her, crossing her arms.

Even still, he continued his unblinking stare. She did her best not to feel unnerved, but his gaze was rather intense. Had he just said something, the tension wouldn't have been so thick, but she could only attempt to converse with him so many times.

She blinked when he lifted a hand, pointing directly at her.

More specifically, at her face.

"My mask?" She touched the cloth covering the lower half of her face.

He said nothing, but she could tell she had guessed correctly.

"You want to know why I'm wearing it?"

He lowered his hand wordlessly.

She tilted her head at him, pondering her response. She could tell him the truth, but she couldn't guarantee he would stay close enough to her to keep him safe.

Or…

She looked around conspiratorially before leaning down a little closer to him, speaking in a loud whisper.

"Can you keep a secret?"

At first, he didn't move, but she noticed him leaning in ever so slightly to hear what she had to say.

"I'm undercover."

It was subtle, but she saw his visible eye widen a bit with intrigue.

"If you promise not to tell anyone, though, I think I can show you what I look like. You look pretty trustworthy to me. Do you think you could do that?"

There was a beat of silence before he slowly nodded his head.

She stood up straight again. "Alright. Just a quick peek." She reached up and hooked her finger into the band around her ear. "Ready?"

He nodded again, even more focused on her every move.

She pulled the band off, letting the mask fall and hang away from her face. She watched his eyes dart over her face as if trying to memorize every detail, causing her to smile at him before bringing a finger to her lips.

"Shhhhhh."

His eyes met hers, blinking once, then twice. He slowly moved his arm up, mirroring her.

"Shhhhhh."

She smiled wider at him, her dimple coming out of hiding as she turned her head to check on Ven again.

"He looks like he's done. Let's go see how he's feeling, okay, buddy?"

She pulled the mask back over her face, hooking the elastic around her ear before shifting it to cover her nose.

"Ienzo."

She looked over at him, unsure if she had really heard him or not; his voice had been so soft, it was hard to tell if he said anything or if her ears were just playing tricks on her.

She pushed herself off the wall, offering her hand to him.

"Ienzo."

He looked at her hand before taking it. He seemed to think deeply about every move he made before making it.

Was he analytical or was he anxious?

"Let's go make sure he's okay."

He nodded, following her as she pulled him along after her again.

Ven turned around to look at them, dismissing his Keyblade now that the unversed had been disposed of. He was relieved to see they were alright.

"Ienzo, where are you?"

Ven looked in the direction of the new voice, somewhat startled by it. He saw a man walking just outside the square who didn't seem to see any of them yet.

"Answer me."

The man turned at that moment, catching sight of all three of them.

"Ah, there you are. Didn't I tell you not to wander off, child?"

Ven took in the man's appearance as he approached them. He wore a lab coat that matched the one the boy was wearing, but this seemed to fit him more appropriately. Around his neck was a purple ascot that complemented his green eyes, though his flat dirty blond hair was unflattering by comparison as it loosely hung off the sides of his face. His black boots and pants could be seen through the slit in his coat.

The man addressed Charlie, who was still holding the boy's hand. "I see we owe you our thanks. We have done our best to raise the boy… since his poor parents aren't here to do it." He said.

Ven frowned. "Oh. You're on your own, huh?"

Ienzo said nothing.

Ven looked at Charlie, thinking about how much of a relief it probably was to the young boy that the two of them had come along to help, even if he probably didn't expect them to.

Help still came for him.

And even if he didn't want it, that's what Terra needed.

Ven looked at the man. "Sir, we're looking for a friend of mine. He's a tall guy dressed kinda like me. Have you seen him?"

The man looked Ven up and down before letting out a thoughtful hum. "Perhaps I did see him in the Outer Gardens. Just follow this road." He said, motioning to the road towards a tunnel just beyond a pair of slopes.

Ven perked up. "Thank you." He smiled up at the man.

"No, thank you, for keeping Ienzo out of harm's way." The man said, glancing at Charlie again.

Her shoulders were so rigid she almost looked hostile.

The man studied her, looking thoughtful.

"Miss, forgive me for asking, but have we met before?"

She blinked, the stiffness of her body melting away to be replaced with bewilderment.

"Uh, no. We haven't." She said, caught completely off guard.

"Really? Interesting. I could have sworn I'd seen your eyes somewhere before." His eyes landed on Ienzo. "Oh, well. My mistake."

Ienzo let go of her hand as the man moved to leave, neither of them sparing them another glance before they were out of sight.

Ven gave Charlie a puzzled look. "That was kinda weird." He offered.

"Yeah, you're telling me…"

She shook it off, pointing at the tunnel.

"We're headed that way, right?"

Ven blinked. "Oh! Yeah, he did say it was over there, didn't he?"

She nodded. "He didn't sound positive he saw him, though. We might not want to get our hopes up. But it doesn't hurt to check."

Ven perked up. "Right. Then let's not waste any time. I'll race you."

He could see her smiling through her eyes. "You're on."

It seemed the man had been correct about seeing Terra around the Outer Gardens because it didn't take long for them to find him walking around. Charlie hung back while she allowed Ven to approach the man.

Terra was probably only a few years older than Ven, and definitely taller. His dark gray shirt was tight against his torso, showing how muscular he was, the sleeves cutting off around the middle of his biceps. His left arm was almost completely armored from his shoulder to his fingertips, thanks to his pauldron and glove. He had the same straps crossing his front as Ven and Aqua did, though his were red, and the emblem sat on a belt threaded through a sash around his stomach. His long tan pants were pleated, with his dark armored shoes barely in view. His brown hair reached his shoulders in the back but stuck up straight atop his head with a few stray strands hanging in his face.

He turned his head and stopped walking, revealing a pair of blue eyes as he took in Ven after he called his name.

Ven soon caught up to him, standing face to face with him. He held his fists at his side, standing tall. "Take us with you." He insisted.

Terra glanced at Charlie, noticing her for the first time. His eyes looked her up and down before he turned back to Ven. "A new friend of yours?" He asked, voice sounding hollow.

"I met her while I was looking for you. She promised to help me find you. Her name's Charlie." Ven answered, looking over his shoulder at her.

Charlie awkwardly waved, unsure if she should say anything or simply let the conversation continue.

Terra shook his head. "You should get her home. And then you should do the same." He said.

Ven frowned. He had never heard Terra sounding so distant before, not even when he had first left home. He knew what Aqua said was hard to accept, but it seemed something heavier was weighing on his mind.

"I want you to let me come with you."

Terra shook his head again before looking away. "I can't do that, Ven."

Ven let out a breath, his resolve already wavering. He wanted to put his foot down and insist, but with Terra acting so strange, he didn't quite have the heart to. He hung his head, looking at the ground.

"Why not?"

Terra closed his eyes at the defeat in Ven's voice. "I just--" He cut himself off, facing Ven again. "When I really need you, Ven, I know you'll be there." He told him.

Ven felt his head and his spirits lift, a prideful smile spreading on his face. "Well, why wouldn't I? You're my friend."

Terra looked away again, this time in thought.

Ven was starting to get the feeling that something happened between now and the last time he saw him, but he couldn't imagine what it could be.

"Yeah."

Ven blinked, seeing Terra smile gently at him.

"You're right. Thanks, Ven."

Terra reached up and activated his armor, summoning his own glider. He climbed on, observing Charlie one more time.

"If you're not going to take her home, keep a close eye on her. Keep her safe."

Ven nodded, watching as Terra lifted off the ground to climb out of the atmosphere and towards whatever world he found next.

"Is he… always like that?"

Ven brought his attention to Charlie, whose brow was creased in concern. He frowned again with a shake of his head. "No, he isn't. But I think it might be because of what…" He blinked, an urgent thought hitting him.

"We need to tell Aqua."

Charlie nodded, following after Ven when he took off back towards the town square, entering the tunnel with him. It quickly led them back to the stairs they had descended to get there, both of them skipping every second step to try to make quick time.

"Maybe after this, we can catch up to him. He won't be able to get too far, right?" She asked him.

Ven reached the top of a second set of stairs, feeling the sun hit his skin again. "Yeah! We won't let him get away from us that easily." He agreed, feeling his confidence come back.

Terra knew that he'd be there for him when he needed him, and he was going to make sure he would.

No matter what it took.

Luck was truly on their side because Aqua was standing in the middle of the square. Ven made a beeline for her, making sure not to move too quickly for Charlie in case she was getting tired.

"Aqua!"

The woman was surprised to see the two teenagers. "Ven. Were you able to find him?"

Ven hesitated, joy fading a little. "Yeah, but… he's gone." He admitted.

Aqua looked pensive. "Right."

She looked over at Charlie, taking her in. Aqua's face provided no evidence of what she was thinking, which made Charlie uncomfortable for the second time in ten minutes.

Aqua finally stopped studying her, addressing Ven again. "Then I can't stay here."

Ven offered a hopeful smile. "Let us go with you, Aqua."

"No, Ven." Aqua's denial was firm and her gaze was unmoving. "Do as I say and go home."

Ven looked at her with crestfallen eyes, disappointed yet again that he was being brushed off by people he cared about. "Why won't you let me?"

Aqua sighed, relenting. "I don't want to put your or Charlie in harm's way." She rested what was meant to be a soothing hand on his shoulder. "You understand?"

Ven didn't meet her gaze, causing her to sigh and pull back, activating her own armor. She walked past both him and Charlie without so much as a goodbye.

Charlie scoffed before directing her attention back to Ven.

He didn't deserve any of this.

"Let's go sit down for a bit, Ven. We can take a break before we figure out what to do next."

He shrugged, letting her lead him to sit next to one of the slopes. They leaned their backs against the walls, neither of them saying anything.

Not that there was much that needed saying.

Charlie could tell Ven had emotional whiplash. From the moment they woke up, they were jerked in different directions, first trying to find Mickey, then the truth behind Aqua chasing after Terra, and then having them both dismiss him and tell him to just go home.

He was having a rough day, to say the least.

She was, too, but she was less concerned about that.

She was glad the square was empty.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Ven shifted next to her as his gaze landed on her. His face didn't do a good job of hiding his aggravation.

"Not really. It's not like it'll change anything." He grumbled.

"It'll change the way you feel. It might not be much, but it's something you can control, right?"

He didn't answer her immediately, and she was ready to drop the subject and sit in silence with him if that was what he really wanted.

But apparently, that wasn't the case.

"I just wish they'd stop treating me like a kid. I know I'm younger than them, but that doesn't mean I'll get hurt." He admitted, crossing his arms across his chest. "They say it's because they're worried about me, but I have the same training they do. That means something, right?"

Charlie pulled her knees in closer, wrapping her arms around them, almost hugging them to her chest. "You've kept us both safe this whole time. It's nothing to sneeze at. And it's something I'm grateful for." She rested her cheek on her knees. "Being the youngest is weird. And frustrating. Everyone wants you to be an adult but they won't give you a chance to be and keep telling you what to do."

Ven raised his eyebrows. "Are you the youngest in your family?" He asked, curious.

"Yeah. Not by a lot, but I'm still treated like the baby. It feels like I'm always being told to grow up, but yet I'm not old enough to really know anything." She huffed, moving so her chin was now on her knees, eyes cast down to look at the ground in front of her. "The only difference between you and I, though, is that they overdo it with trying to shield me from everything so they never teach me anything. I'm always left out of the loop."

Ven frowned. "That doesn't sound like your fault." He said.

"It's not. And it's annoying. How am I supposed to show them I can if they don't let me, right?" She turned to him again. "I know it's just because they don't want me making mistakes, but they also keep saying that's part of growing. If that's true, then that means you and I shouldn't be left out and need to be given chances." 

Her eyes smiled at him. 

"And if you ask me, you know what you're doing. So I'm not about to tell you to pack up and just go home. I think you're more than capable of taking care of yourself. And me."

Ven smiled weakly at her, only to sigh immediately after. He shifted his weight, pulling out a small wooden Keyblade, resting it across his lap. His eyes traced over the handle, seeing Terra's name carved into it just like it always was.

"I remember when Terra gave this to me. I could tell he and Aqua really believed in me. They knew I'd get better if I just kept practicing." He lifted it off his lap, flipping it in the air like he had so many times before. "It feels like forever ago, now. Everything feels different."

Charlie lifted her head, shooting him a confused look. "Where..?"

"Huh?"

Charlie waved her hand, dismissing her unfinished question. "Nothing, it's not important." She moved one of her legs to stretch out in front of her, resting her hand on the ground next to her to lean on it. "I think they still believe in you. But I think they're also afraid. You make it sound like none of you have ever left your home before, so this is new to them, too. These unversed seem to come in new forms every time we turn around, so what's waiting around the next corner?"

Ven scoffed. "Then that means they're just as in the dark as I am, so why do they keep telling me to go home?"

Charlie snorted. "I've never known a grown-up to admit they don't know something. And whenever you get close, they tell you to stop arguing and do as they say." She rested her head against the wall behind her. "Back home, they always pretend to have all the answers. And they don't like when you ask questions. They expect you to just follow the rules."

Ven shook his head. "Do you break the rules a lot?"

She turned her head to look at him with mischievous eyes.

"Not that they know of."

He almost laughed. Charlie, from what he could tell, was respectful of adults, and most people in general. The only real exception was Maleficent, but that wasn't without reason. Still, she always seemed to be willing to listen to them, so for her to admit to breaking a rule here and there didn't quite fit the image of her he had in his mind.

It made her that much more interesting.

Before he could ask for any examples, though, he suddenly remembered that he was flipping the wooden Keyblade in his hand when it didn't come down to land in his palm, instead hitting the ground with a loud clatter as it skid a few feet away from them. Charlie moved to get it, but the sudden presence of two new bodies stopped her before she got very far.

The closest pair of red shoes belonged to a boy dressed in warm colors. His red hair was short and spiked, but his eyes were a seafoam green. He wore a white tank top and sleeveless orange vest with pockets, with a striped yellow neckerchief hanging loosely from his neck. His pants were tan and baggy, reaching to just above his ankles.

The boy leaned down and picked up the wooden Keyblade, examining it. He moved it around to test it before diverting his attention to Ven. "This yours?" He asked.

His companion stopped walking when he realized he was no longer following him.

The other boy wore a dark blue jacket with light blue trimming spanning from the collar down to the ends of the sleeves and a yellow crescent moon on the left breast. His white pants were tighter fitting than his friend's, and his black shoes much less casual. The blue hair on the back of his head was also spiked up, but there were a few strands on either side of his face that hung down naturally, pairing nicely with his light blue eyes.

The two boys couldn't be more opposite if they tried.

"Lea, we don't have time for this." His voice was stern and serious.

"Lighten up, Isa. It'll only take a sec." The warmer boy dismissed his friend's concern as he strolled over to Ven, flipping the Keyblade over to hold it by the neck. "You still play with toy swords? That's cute." He jabbed, holding it out to Ven so he could grab it by the handle.

Ven was less than impressed.

"Now this right here--" Lea stepped back, reaching into his pockets and pulling out two red spiked frisbees. "Ta-dah!" He held them at his sides, hooking his fingers into the sides, allowing them to hang freely. "What do you think?"

There was a brief silence.

"Not a whole lot." Ven replied flatly, turning his head away.

Charlie was glad her mask hid her smile.

Lea, on the other hand, started fuming. "You're just jealous. I'm Lea. Got it memorized? What's your name?"

Isa rolled his eyes in the background.

"Ventus."

Lea stood up straighter, satisfied. "Okay, Ventus, let's fight." He said.

Ven looked at him incredulously. "Fight? Why would I want to do that?" He questioned.

Lea leaned down, moving one of his frisbees close to Ven's face. "You scared of losing? C'mon." He taunted, quickly hopping a few paces away and standing in a defensive stance. "Hope you're ready!"

Ven stared at Lea for a long moment, considering his options before turning to Charlie for help.

She shrugged her shoulders at him. "Well, go on, then." She motioned in Lea's direction. "Show him who's boss."

That was all the urging he needed.

"Yeah! Now we're talkin'." Lea cheered as Ven stood up and took hold of the Keyblade.

Ven shuffled it to carry it the same way he did his real Keyblade. "You're gonna be sorry!"

Isa let out an amused breath as Charlie shook her head, both of them watching their friends start their sparring match.

After about ten minutes, Ven seized victory.

Lea fell back, his frisbees out of reach and leaving him unarmed. He chuckled breathlessly, regarding Ven who was standing above him.

"You… had enough?" He panted. "'Cause I'm willing to… call it a draw if you are."

"Huh?" Ven stood up straight, smiling before playing along. "Right."

Isa approached them now that the match was over. "From where I stood, the only thing you drew was a big L on your forehead for "Loser", "Lame", "Laughable"..." He trailed off.

Lea lazily rolled his head around to shoot him a faux hurt look. "Wha-- Isn't this the part where ya… cheer me up or somethin'?" He crossed his arms. "'You're just having a bad day' or 'That's what you get for pullin' your punches!'" He huffed. "Some friend."

Isa rolled his eyes again. "Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie."

Lea pouted, folding his arms behind his head and laying down on his back. "Ya see what I gotta put up with? Sure hope you don't have friends like him."

Ven looked behind him as Charlie pushed herself to her feet, dusting herself off before coming to join them.

He definitely had some good ones, he thought.

He chuckled, and all three boys shared a quick laugh together.

Isa spoke first after they quieted down. "Lea, we have to go."

"'Kay."

Lea stood as Isa started to walk away.

"Already?" Ven asked.

"I'll see ya when I see ya. After all, we're friends now." Lea replied with a grin. "Get it memorized."

Ven chuckled. "Okay, Lea."

Lea looked at Charlie, resting his hands on his hips. "Though I don't think I caught your name." He tilted his head.

"I'm Charlie." She said, bowing her head a little. "Thanks for the show. I can't wait to see the next one."

Lea's grin grew, jabbing a thumb into his chest. "Just you wait. I'll get 'im next time for sure!"

"Lea."

Lea winced, giving them a quick wave before heading after Isa, leaving Ven and Charlie alone again.

Ven's smile didn't leave his face as he addressed Charlie. "You ready to keep going?"

She nodded, adjusting her bag to secure it on her shoulder. "Yeah. I'm good to go."

Ven reached up to activate his armor but paused. "Oh, wait, I promised to show you how to turn your Keyblade into a glider. We can do that right now, if you want."

Charlie hummed thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure it won't kill me to ride with you one more time. How about next time?"

Ven's smile softened.

"Sounds good."


	13. Distracted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A revelation sneaks up on Varian.

Varian couldn't breathe.  
  


He gasped, eyes snapping open as his hands shot up to his chest, pushing against whatever was pressing its weight down on his lungs. He heard a sharp cry before a loud thump of something hitting the floor before he was able to sit up to see what had been smothering him.  
  


His eyes narrowed at the familiar masked face glaring back at him from the floor.  
  


"I _knew_ it."  
  


The raccoon attempted to jump back onto his bed, but Varian somehow managed to catch him in midair. He pushed himself off his mattress, trying not to drop the struggling animal in his grasp.  
  


He was glad he didn't change before taking his nap.  
  


He had a sneaking suspicion that he hadn't seen the last of the raccoon due to how aggressively it tried to take the shard back from him, so not only did he leave all his clothes on, but he moved the metal from its place in his pocket and slipped it into one of his gloves.  
  


He could feel it digging into his palm every time the creature moved.  
  


He nudged open his window and made to toss the critter out, but it hooked its claws in the windowsill, keeping itself in place.  
  


Varian wished he was just a few inches taller for about the hundredth time in the last year.  
  


After a bit of a struggle, he finally managed to overpower the raccoon, forcing it out and quickly shutting the window. Even though his room was on the second story of the house, it had a small balcony that the animal could easily climb down from without hurting itself.  
  


He sighed, resting his forehead on the pane of the window once it was secured. He felt the glass rattle from all the scratching the raccoon was doing.   
  


He'd have to work on filling in the blind spots in the house to make sure it couldn't get that close to him again.  
  


With a deep breath, he lifted his head and moved away from the window, ignoring the offended noises coming from outside.  
  


He pulled off his glove, peering down at the metal in his palm proudly.  
  


He won this round.  
  


Not only that, he saw Ven and Charlie again.  
  


These dreams weren't typical; normally, he would dream in a first person's point of view as though he were actually present for the events taking place. But when it came to his dreams of the Keyblade wielders, he never felt like he was there himself.  
  


The best way he could describe it would be as an out-of-body experience.  
  


Only without his body being anywhere in the equation to begin with.  
  


But he saw them again, and just like he'd hoped, they were alright.  
  


Well, for the most part.  
  


Charlie cried again.  
  


He frowned, his hand resting on the doorknob as he took a moment to reflect on everything that had happened in the short time he'd been asleep.  
  


They'd crash-landed in a place the guards called Radiant Garden.  
  


They tried to chase after Mickey, but they lost track of him.  
  


They found an elderly duck that revealed that a powerful wizard named Merlin had brought him from another world, too.  
  


 _Charlie had met Merlin before_.  
  


Not only had they met before, but apparently he was the reason she ended up in the mine and met Ven in the first place.  
  


And both of them seemed to have an idea of what was going on.  
  


Their conversation had been vague enough that he didn't really understand everything that was being said, and it was definitely possible that he was misreading everything.  
  


But Charlie was hiding something big from Ven.  
  


What was it that she knew? Was that knowledge the reason Merlin took her from her home?  
  


He winced, remembering the sound of her sobs.  
  


What happened that made her that upset?  
  


The memory of the pain on her face before she broke down was making his chest hurt.  
  


Whatever it was, it must have been serious. It was hard to see her emotions whenever she wore the mask, but even when she took it off, she was guarded and careful. Seeing her emote so freely was jarring, even compared to the first time when she had gone up against the masked man.  
  


Was she like that because she was so far from home?  
  


The voice in his head told him that wasn't the case.  
  


Even with her good sense of humor and her sharp wit, she seemed to be holding back what she was truly feeling.  
  


Or was that just the secrets that he was suddenly made aware of? Was he only noticing it now because of that? Or did it fill in the blanks he didn't know were there?  
  


He shook his head. Whatever her reason, he was sure it was a good one.  
  


But that man in the coat thought he knew her, too. And her surprise seemed genuine enough.  
  


Was that a cover? Or was he really just confused?  
  


She definitely hadn't met the young boy before. He gave no sign of recognizing her, even when she took her mask off.  
  


No one else they ran into seemed to know her, either.  
  


Maybe he was just a creepy guy.  
  


Varian almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a knock on his door.  
  


"Son?"  
  


He looked down, seeing his hand still resting on the doorknob. He'd been so lost in thought that he still hadn't left his room. He slipped the shard into his apron pocket and pulled his glove back on before opening the door.  
  


"Hi, Dad." He greeted.  
  


Quirin took a good look at his son, looking him up and down. "I take it your nap went well?"  
  


Varian smiled. "Yeah, actually. I feel a lot better. I actually just woke up. Is everything okay?"  
  


His father nodded. "Everything's fine. I just came to see if you wanted to try eating lunch today."  
  


Varian's stomach spoke for him.  
  


He winced, clutching his stomach in embarrassment. "Uh, yeah, that sounds perfect right now."  
  


Quirin nodded, a ghost of a smile passing over his face as he turned to leave. "Alright. I'll see you down there." He said, leaving Varian by himself again.  
  


Varian ran a hand through his hair.  
  


It wasn't that Varian disliked eating; on the contrary, there wasn't much he wouldn't eat. But even before the shard came into the picture, he had a tendency to forget meals, sometimes for an entire day. It was already a struggle for his father to remind him to eat on days where he was busy, but with the mood Varian had been in for the last several months, it must have made Quirin that much more anxious to have his son outright refuse to eat at all.  
  


Varian felt guilty.  
  


Shaking his head, he stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him, following after his father.  
  


  
  


"So you're feeling better?"  
  


Varian looked at Quirin as he took the last bite of his sandwich. Both of them agreed that it might not be a good idea to push their luck and give him something too heavy to eat, and while he didn't rush to finish it, Varian had made fairly quick work of it.   
  


He hoped it wouldn't come back to bite him later in the form of a stomach ache.  
  


"Yeah, I guess that nap really hit the spot." He replied.  
  


Quirin studied his son as he finished his meal, mouth pulled down into a deeper frown than usual.  
  


"Are you sure that's all it was?"  
  


Varian blinked.  
  


"Well, yeah, I can't think of anything else it would be."  
  


Quirin shook his head. "I did some thinking while you were resting. It's clear that something's been weighing on you the past few months. At first, I thought it was about your raccoon catcher, but even after you heard it worked, that didn't seem to cheer you up. So it's got to be something else."  
  


Varian froze.  
  


He never told his father about finding the shard at the crash site or the dreams. He had let him know about the raccoon coming into the house, but never mentioned that it took anything.  
  


He knew it was too crazy to believe, and he wasn't about to ask Quirin to try to understand it.  
  


History told Varian it wouldn't go well if he did.  
  


So what was he going to say?  
  


"Have you been working on something you shouldn't be?"  
  


"No!"  
  


Yes.  
  


"Then what's been worrying you?"  
  


Varian bit the inside of his cheek, trying to think of what to say.  
  


He knew that trying to explain what was really going on with him would get him nowhere, most definitely not out of the hot seat. But he didn't want to completely lie to him, either.  
  


"I've been thinking about a… friend of mine."  
  


Quirin looked a bit surprised.  
  


"A friend? From the village?"  
  


Varian shook his head.  
  


"No, she doesn't live around here."  
  


"She?"  
  


Varian did _not_ like the look on his father's face.  
  


"Uh, yeah. She." He answered awkwardly.  
  


"And you've been… thinking about her?"  
  


… Oh.  
  


_Oh.  
  
_

"N-Not like that!" He waved his arms defensively, eyes wide. "It's not like that, I swear!"  
  


"You're at that age, Varian, it's normal."  
  


Why couldn't _this_ be the dream he woke up from?  
  


Varian coughed, his face feeling hot. "It's not like that. She's just a friend. That's it."  
  


Quirin raised a questioning eyebrow, not saying anything for a moment.  
  


A long, _long_ moment.  
  


"If you insist." He let it drop, but Varian got the feeling he didn't believe him. "Is she a new friend?"  
  


Varian calmed down enough to respond.  
  


"Yeah. I mean… kind of. I met her a few months ago. It was actually right after the lantern festival. I saw her a few times after that, but then one day she just… disappeared. And I haven't seen or heard from her since."  
  


Quirin nodded as he listened. "The festival draws in a big crowd every year, it's possible she just went home after the festivities."  
  


Varian shook his head. "I don't think so. There wasn't any warning. It didn't feel right."  
  


"I see. So you think something might have happened?"  
  


Varian shrugged. "Kind of. At least I hope not. But she... gave me something before she stopped coming around."  
  


"Are you sure it isn't--"  
  


" _Dad--_ "  
  


"Alright, alright."  
  


Varian ran his hands over his face, embarrassed.  
  


He could do without all the sweating.  
  


"She gave me something, but I lost it just before she disappeared. I couldn't find it anywhere, no matter where I looked."  
  


Quirin hummed in understanding. "The guilt of losing it made you sick."  
  


"Yeah."  
  


Sure.  
  


"But earlier today, when I caught the raccoon, I found it again. And it made me feel like everything was okay. Like _she's_ okay."  
  


Quirin nodded. "That explains things. But you could have told me sooner, Son, I would have helped you look for it."  
  


Varian shook his head. "It wasn't anything particularly important."  
  


"It was important enough that you couldn't eat or sleep properly for five months."  
  


Varian winced.  
  


"It's okay to be sentimental, Varian. But I'm glad you're not worrying about it anymore. You haven't been yourself."  
  


Varian rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know… I didn't mean to worry you." He said.  
  


Quirin nodded again. "It's alright. But you can ask me for help if you need it."  
  


Varian smiled at him. "I will."  
  


"And if the time ever comes that you do start feeling that way--"  
  


" _Stop_."  
  


Quirin held up his hands in defeat as Varian groaned. "Alright, I've had my fun." He rose from the table. "I need to get back to work. Don't push yourself too hard just because you're feeling better." He said, walking towards the door. "I'll be back in time for dinner."  
  


"Okay, Dad. I'll see you then."  
  


Quirin paused in the doorway to look at Varian again, looking thoughtful for a moment before closing the door, leaving the boy with his own thoughts once again.  
  


He groaned again, dropping his head to hide his face in his hands. He'd been successful in avoiding telling his father the entire truth, but now he was reading too much into the lie for the wrong reasons.  
  


He did _not_ like Charlie like that.  
  


He could admit that she was nice to look at. He wasn't sure how her hair got to be that color, but it looked nice on her. And it was difficult not to focus on her shocking blue eyes sometimes. And sure, he thought she was funny, especially when the joke was at Ven's expense. And despite being secretive, Varian thought that she was a good person deep down, and incredibly nice.  
  


…  
  


He groaned a third time, moving his hands to let his head drop onto the table.  
  


He drew a picture of her, but couldn't remember what Ven looked like.  
  


He only mentioned Charlie to his dad.  
  


He liked seeing her smile.  
  


He couldn't eat or sleep right without knowing if she was okay.  
  


Most of the projects he worked on was just to _see_ her again.  
  


It was never about the both of them. Without realizing it, his focus had been almost entirely on her.  
  


To the point that it influenced the way he behaved and what became a priority to him.  
  


Is that what a crush was?  
  


Varian lifted his head, standing abruptly a second later.  
  


He just needed to think about his work instead of her.  
  


He could do that.


	14. With A Little Help From My Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Ven take a much-deserved break.

The world they found themselves in was quite the contrast from the one they had just left.  
  


Radiant Garden had an inviting atmosphere for the most part, and this new world was no different, but they were welcoming in very different ways. Radiant Garden was more of a suburban neighborhood, with nearly tended flowerbeds, stone walkways, and fountains aplenty.  
  


The new world felt like an amusement park.  
  


Ven looked around at the buildings surrounding the square. Each one was a different color, each more vibrant than the last. Blues, greens, yellows, all standing bold and proud. There was a stage not too far from where they were standing, and judging by the decorations, they had wandered into some sort of event.  
  


"I wonder where we are…" He pondered aloud.  
  


Charlie took in their surroundings for a moment, trying to transition from seeing the darkness of space to waltzing into a world absolutely drowning in color.  
  


"Oh!" She reached into her bag, catching his attention as she shuffled around for whatever it was she was looking for. It didn't take long for her to find it and pull it out.  
  


It was the pass that Scrooge had given them.  
  


"It looks pretty similar, don't you think?"  
  


It would have never occurred to him if she hadn't mentioned it.  
  


"You're right!" He pulled his own pass out of his pocket, taking a look at the art on the front of it.  
  


He hadn't realized Disney Town would be so close.  
  


Charlie eyed him, dropping the pass back into her bag before securing it.  
  


"You were quiet on the way here. Is there something on your mind?"  
  


Ven looked up as she crossed her arms across her chest.  
  


She wasn't wrong. The trips between worlds were usually filled with conversation, whether it was about what had previously happened to them or asking questions about each other.  
  


But since leaving Radiant Garden, Ven had spent the entire time in his own head.  
  


He could tell there was no way she was going to believe him if he insisted it was nothing. After everything that had happened with Terra and Aqua, he was rattled. It made him think about things he never thought he'd have to consider before, and he couldn't seem to shake it off.  
  


"It's nothing to worry about, honest. I just have a lot on my mind after… you know." He wilted despite himself, putting his own pass away.  
  


"I figured. Was it something specific or--" She cut herself off when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, blinking as a figure suddenly jumped out at them from seemingly nowhere.  
  


Ven wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at, either.  
  


Whatever it was, it wasn't unversed or human. It was tall and hefty, easily towering over the both of them.  
  


It was also wearing a superhero costume.  
  


A majority of its body was donned in white, most of it in the form of a jumpsuit. It wore matching gloves and a mask that covered the upper half of its face, including the ears, but left its peach-colored mouth exposed, showing an underbite with two teeth poking out from its bottom lip. It had a red band on each upper arm and a large red cape fluttering behind it with each large step it took in its black shoes. Red lightning bolts decorated the jumpsuit and boots, and the entire ensemble was pulled together with a light blue belt, the buckle proudly displaying "CJ" in red.  
  


"Tada!"  
  


It was male, for sure.  
  


"Wearin' the mask of peace and hope… comes the fearless defender and hero of this town!"  
  


He started striking several unimpressive poses, though he was either totally unaware of the awkwardness he was creating or he simply didn't care.  
  


"It is me-- Captain Justice!"  
  


Charlie turned her head slightly to look at Ven with wide eyes.  
  


"Huh? Um…"  
  


Ven was at a loss for words.  
  


The masked vigilante moved towards them.  
  


"Young fellow! Do my hero-senses detect that you got troubles? Just say the word, and Captain Justice will make all your problems disappear!"  
  


Ven looked startled as the stranger stopped in front of him.  
  


"Wh-Who, me?"  
  


The creature nodded, not taking his eyes off him.  
  


He almost seemed like a cat…  
  


Ven shook his head. "I'm just trying to make some friends--" His voice died in his throat before he could finish, eyes darting to look at Charlie briefly before looking away again.  
  


He didn't miss the lift of her eyebrows.  
  


He shook his head, dismissing the line of thought. "Nevermind, forget it."  
  


Captain Justice puffed up his chest. "Don't be intimidated by my magnificence. Go on and spit it out. Then… remember to vote Captain J!"  
  


Charlie tilted her head. "Vote?"  
  


Captain Justice stepped back suddenly, shaking his head. "Oh, well, uh, forget that!" He crossed his arms, quickly recovering from whatever had flustered him. "How can I help? That's the only reason I'm here."  
  


Charlie squinted at him, suspicious.  
  


Ven, on the other hand, crossed his own arms as he thought about the offer. He hummed, taking a look around. "Oh, I know! Tell me about your town. Everything's so festive! Is it always like this?"  
  


Captain Justice seemed confused. "Huh? That's it? Nothing else?" He turned, stepping away. "Well, the festivities are on account of the Dream Festival-- which is why I've made sure there's carnival stuff all over town."  
  


Ven perked up. "Really? Like what?"  
  


Captain Justice stopped walking. "Ho ho, you gotta see it for yourself. Wouldn't be much of a dream if I just told ya."  
  


Ven smiled. "Right. Thanks."  
  


Captain Justice turned to face them again. "And kids, don't you go forgettin'... Captain Justice is the one who solved all your problems." He flared out his cape behind him. "That would be 'Justice' with a 'J'."  
  


Charlie shook her head, speaking under her breath. "As opposed to what..?"  
  


Ven tried his best to hide his snicker as he spoke. "Uh, sure. I got it, Captain Justice."  
  


"Aw, phooey! This stinks! Now we can't open the ice cream shop!"  
  


The sudden interruption caused all three bodies to turn in the direction the cry came from.  
  


Just a few paces from the stage was a group of three small ducks, each wearing matching shirts and caps all in different solid colors. The one in red was animatedly talking with the one in blue, and the green one stood quietly next to them. Beside the green-clad duck was a mouse in a pink and red ball gown and white gloves with a crown placed atop her head. She was looking at a strange contraption with concern.  
  


The machine itself was unlike anything Ven had ever seen before. It sat at the top of a tiered platform and appeared to be some kind of seat, but it had a set of piano keys on either side of it and the barrel of a gun at the front.  
  


Ven was afraid to ask what came out of it.  
  


"Trouble? Rescue is on the way!" Captain Justice took off in their direction, leaving Ven and Charlie behind.  
  


Ven crossed his arms. "A festival, huh?" He mulled the idea over in his head, then looked at Charlie. "Scrooge did say he wanted us to have fun while we're here, right? Maybe we should walk around and check it out."  
  


Charlie shrugged. "It would be a nice break from all the fighting you've been doing, that's for sure."  
  


He nodded with a smile. "Yeah. We could see if they have any games and try some of the food. Or even just sit and watch other people have fun."  
  


He watched as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, eyeing him with a mischievous glint in her eye.  
  


"Like a date?"  
  


He tilted his head playfully back at her. "Is that what a date is?"  
  


"From what I've heard, yes."  
  


He smiled at her, moving his arms and extending his hand to her. "Then I guess it's a date."  
  


She laughed and shook her head, reaching out to take his offered hand. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."  
  


  
  


Unfortunately, unversed didn't really understand the concept of taking a break.  
  


As soon as they had left the plaza, it became business as usual as they popped up out of nowhere. Ven immediately sprung into action, and thankfully, there was no need for Charlie to get involved. He had finished them off almost as quickly as they had appeared, and she never even had to draw her Keyblade.  
  


"You're getting better at that."  
  


He blinked and looked over his shoulder at her, dismissing his weapon.  
  


"Huh? You think so?"  
  


She nodded, reaching into her bag to fish out the notebook Merlin had gifted to her and open it. She flipped a few of the pages before settling her thumb in the gutter to keep it propped open.  
  


"Definitely. The small ones have always been easy for you to handle, but you're getting rid of them even faster than you did the first time I saw you fight them." She answered, scribbling something in the book.  
  


He felt his chest swell with pride at hearing her praises, but his curiosity quickly got the better of him. He made his way back to her as she continued to write in the book.  
  


"You said you were going to record everything we saw, right?"  
  


She looked up at the closeness of his voice, watching him move to take a look over her shoulder at the page she was currently writing on. "Yeah. I still need to finish writing about what happened at Radiant Garden before we left, and once we leave here, I can add that, too."  
  


He found himself frowning as he thought back to his reunion with her after her conversation with Merlin.  
  


She had been stable by the time he returned, but even when they had gone against the masked man, she hadn't cried enough for her to look so tired. Granted, those tears had been mostly from fear, but even then, the redness around her eyes outside the wizard's house had concerned him deeply.  
  


"So… Merlin knows where you're from?"  
  


The scratching of her pen stopped as her hand stilled. For a moment, she didn't move, and Ven held his breath as he started to wonder if maybe he shouldn't have asked.  
  


He blinked when she took in a breath before closing the book.  
  


He couldn't help but notice that she wasn't looking at him.  
  


"Yeah. He's actually been there before."  
  


He scratched the back of his neck, feeling unsure. He had so many questions, but the last thing he wanted to do was upset her again.  
  


He wasn't sure what he'd do if he made her cry.  
  


Then again, if she wasn't comfortable answering, there was no reason she couldn't just say so. She knew he would stop asking if she didn't want to talk about it.  
  


Right?  
  


"Really? That's a good thing, right?"  
  


He relaxed a little when she nodded almost immediately.  
  


"Yeah, it is. And he remembers how to get there, too."  
  


He smiled, dropping his hand to let it hang at his side. "That's great! Did he tell you how to get back?"  
  


She let out a noncommittal hum. "Yeah. Pretty much."  
  


He really didn't like her lack of enthusiasm.  
  


He leaned forward, turning his head to try to catch her attention so she would look at him. "But it's not good?"  
  


At first, she kept her gaze trained on the ground in front of her. She said nothing as she crossed her arms, tilting her head from side to side as she seemed to decide on something.  
  


He watched her place the book and pen back in her bag before looking at him.  
  


"I'm a long, long,  _ long _ way from home. The amount of time it's going to take to get there is a lot longer than either of us originally thought. I won't be seeing it anytime soon."  
  


He frowned. "Still, I promised to help you get home. And now you know where it is. So that's better than nothing, right?"  
  


"I mean, yeah. I've got an idea of what it's going to take. It's just not ideal."  
  


Why did she look so  _ sad _ ?  
  


"I'm going to get you home. No matter how long it takes. I don't know what he said to you, and I don't care how far away it is. I'll make sure you get there." He let out a huff, insistent. "It's not hopeless, right?"  
  


Her eyes subtly darted over his face, scanning him. She shook her head, brushing her hair out of her face.  
  


"No. It's not hopeless."  
  


He grabbed her hands, gently squeezing them.   
  


"Then don't worry about it too much. And even if it takes forever, that just means we get to keep traveling to new places together. We can keep helping people, and I can teach you more about fighting with the Keyblade. That's not so bad, right?"  
  


She looked down at their joined hands in surprise. He saw her arms stiffen, and he was sure she was fighting with herself about whether or not to pull them away from him. He almost felt bad about grabbing them so suddenly.  
  


Almost.  
  


"Don't worry about how long it's going to take."  
  


She took in a deep breath, shoulders creeping up the sides of her neck before sinking back down as she released the tension with the air in her lungs.  
  


"Okay, Ven."  
  


She gently squeezed his hands in return, looking up at him again.  
  


"Together."  
  


He grinned at her, glad to see her eyes looking less clouded with doubt than they had a minute ago.  
  


He hadn't been the only one lost in his thoughts since leaving Radiant Garden. She was just better at hiding it.  
  


"So, what did you want to do first?"  
  


She looked around, humming in thought. "Maybe playing some games will help us work up an appetite. Then we can sit and relax while we eat. What do you think?"  
  


Ven nodded, dropping one of her hands. "That sounds like a good idea." He agreed, turning to walk around the corner with her.  
  


He didn't notice before how much smaller her hands were compared to his.  
  


It was by no means the first time she had ever touched him, but every time she had, his focus had been elsewhere. Whether it was pulling her after him to avoid the unversed or lifting her to climb ledges, he had always been preoccupied with something else.  
  


He'd never just held her hand for the sake of holding it.  
  


He felt her hand shift in his, the smooth leather covering her fingers gliding against the skin of his palm before slipping between each of his own.  
  


He wouldn't mind doing it more often.  
  


  
  


"You let me win, admit it."  
  


Ven grinned, trying to catch his breath. "I didn't, I swear! That was all you."  
  


Charlie rested her hands on her hips, tilting her head to give him an accusing look. "I don't believe you."  
  


It hadn't taken them long to find a game that allowed both of them to not only play at the same time but against each other. The winner was determined by whoever managed to score the most points by knocking fruit-shaped balls into their opponent's goal before the timer ran out. At first, they both had stuck to simply throwing and kicking, but once more than one ball started being thrown into play at once, they both started using their Keyblades to attempt to speed things up. Ven had more experience with his weapon, and therefore had the better offense.  
  


But her defense was near impenetrable.  
  


He'd only managed to get a few of them past her, and even then, it was only because she was distracted by throwing a ball of her own into his net.  
  


It was barely a contest.  
  


He stood up properly once he managed to catch his second wind, noticing her own labored breathing.  
  


"Is it a good idea to keep that on?"  
  


She blinked, reaching up to touch her mask in surprise.  
  


"Honestly, I forgot I was even wearing it. I've gotten so used to having it on."  
  


He shook his head. "It's just us over here, it should be okay to take it off, right?" He asked. "You said people stand six feet apart, didn't you?"  
  


She nodded, slipping the straps off her ears and pulling the cloth away from her face. She used the back of her wrist to wipe at her mouth, attempting to rid herself of the sweat collecting there.  
  


"Six feet apart is the rule, yeah."  
  


Other than Ven, the only other person around was the attendant running the game, and he was several yards away.  
  


He watched her fold the mask in half a few times before palming it and letting her hands hang at her side.  
  


"You must really have to pay attention to what's going on around you, then."  
  


She nodded again. "Yeah, but I was already used to that, even before the virus."  
  


That surprised him.  
  


"Really? Why?"  
  


She ran her free hand through her hair, making a face when she felt how damp it was from all her sweating.  
  


"The musical theater. I've been taking stage direction for years. Being told where to go, where to stand. Especially when it came to dancing. Sometimes you have to be close to other people, so you have to pay attention to how close they are to you so you have enough room and don't end up hitting each other. Sometimes you're not dancing on a solid floor. Sometimes you're fifteen feet in the air on some planks of wood with no railing, so you have to make sure you don't drift and fall off."  
  


Ven's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "That sounds really dangerous."  
  


"It can be. I once saw someone standing too close to another actor during a scene and he ended up with a broken nose. You can really hurt yourself or someone else if you aren't careful."  
  


That explained why her defense during the game was so solid.  
  


That, and why she was so good at evading attacks from unversed.  
  


"You really know how to be at the right place at the right time then."  
  


She offered him a smile.  
  


"Well, yeah. That's how I met you."  
  


He blinked at her, then tilted his head.  
  


Truly, she wasn't wrong.  
  


How she ended up in the mine, he still didn't know. But had she shown up even just a few minutes later, or somewhere else on that world entirely, they would have completely missed each other. They never would have met, and she could very well still be stuck there.  
  


Or worse.  
  


Ven couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face even if he wanted to.  
  


"Yeah, I guess you're right."  
  


He looked around thoughtfully. "Are you getting hungry? I could definitely eat after all that running around. Maybe there's a stall nearby."  
  


He turned to her, watching her pull her mask back on. "If we can find somewhere I can sit far enough away, sure, that sounds great."  
  


He frowned. "You have to stay that far away when you eat, too?"  
  


She nodded. "If you're around someone who could have been exposed. And we don't know if I'm dangerous or not."  
  


"Don't say things like that."  
  


She blinked, looking up after securing the bands around her ears.  
  


He didn't look very happy.  
  


"Like what?"  
  


He shook his head.  
  


"Don't call yourself dangerous. You make it sound like it's your fault, but it's not. I know back home you need to be extra careful, and you're trying to be considerate of the people you meet, but it also feels like you're punishing yourself for something you haven't done wrong."  
  


He stepped closer to her.  
  


"Besides, you and I have been running around a lot together, so I think if you had it, I've already caught it by now, right?"  
  


She winced, averting her gaze, her eyes flooded with guilt.  
  


He shook his head again. "If you do have it, and I get sick, I'm not worried. We can figure something out. But until something happens, there really isn't much point stressing about it. At least not around me."  
  


He frowned again.  
  


"Please, at least sit with me."  
  


She closed her eyes, sighing heavily.  
  


"Ven…"  
  


"I'm not afraid of you."  
  


Her eyes snapped back open in surprise, alarmed at how much closer he was standing to her. Even though the proximity made his voice louder to her ears, his tone was as gentle as his eyes.  
  


"And you shouldn't be, either."  
  


She fell silent, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.  
  


She wondered why he was trying so hard to comfort her.  
  


He wondered how someone who smiled so brightly could be so clouded with doubt.  
  


  
  


They had found their way back to the plaza in no time, and after finishing their meals they decided to allow their food to settle by sitting on one of the benches in the middle of the plaza. It gave them a good view of the other festival-goers as they wandered around, and it was small enough that Charlie didn't have a chance to try to keep too far away from Ven.  
  


Not that she was planning to.  
  


Ven leaned back, resting against the backrest as he watched a family pass through, smiling as the small child pulled their parents around excitedly.  
  


"It seems like everyone is having a good time."  
  


Charlie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, seeing how relaxed he was.  
  


"Yeah, there's definitely cheer in the air." She agreed, lifting one of her legs and shifting it so her ankle was resting on her other knee.  
  


"Speaking of, something's gotten into you, too, but I wouldn't call it joy."  
  


He blinked, turning his attention to her.  
  


"Huh?"  
  


She tilted her head at him.  
  


"Come on, Ven. We've been here for, what, an hour and a half? And you've already given me two pep talks. And don't think I missed what you said to Captain Justice before about making friends."  
  


Ven shrank sheepishly. He'd already brushed off the topic twice; he wasn't sure if luck would allow him to get away with a third.  
  


"Charlie, it's--"  
  


"No, no, no. You don't get to be supportive and nice to me and let me beat you at games and then not talk to me about what's bothering you."  
  


He chuckled, wanting to argue that he didn't let her win anything, but figured she would ignore it.  
  


He sat up again as he tried to organize his thoughts, deciding on how to start.  
  


"I wouldn't exactly say it's  _ bothering _ me."  
  


He crossed his arms.  
  


"It's more that I realized something."  
  


Charlie rested one of her hands on her propped knee.  
  


"Yeah?"  
  


He nodded his head, looking at his lap.  
  


"I didn't always live with Terra and Aqua, you know. In fact, I only met them a few years ago, but I don't remember anything before that."  
  


Charlie raised her eyebrows, moving her other hand to rest between them on the bench before leaning on it to allow it to support her weight.  
  


"You never told me that."  
  


He shrugged.  
  


"It wasn't really important. I lived there, and Master Eraqus trained us to use our Keyblades. And Terra and Aqua are my best friends. I had everything I needed."  
  


He shook his head.  
  


"But that was the problem. They were the only friends I'd ever had. I don't remember having any before, and if I did, I don't remember  _ how _ we became friends. Nothing changed for such a long time, and then Terra took off, and now we're all running around to different worlds and meeting new people. Everything is different, and things are all wrong. And I had no other friends."  
  


His eyes moved from his lap, landing on the hand she had resting on the bench.  
  


"Until you."  
  


He unfolded his arms, reaching down and taking her hand in his.  
  


"You're like me. You were in a world you didn't come from, you're looking for something, and you need a little help finding it. But you're also different. You think of things I wouldn't, like when you used those yarn balls to fight the unversed, or when you took that bow from Maleficent's minion. And when Terra and Aqua told me to go home, you didn't let it get me down. You knew exactly what to say to cheer me up."  
  


Was it just him, or did she actually look a bit sheepish?  
  


"You're a good kind of different. And after meeting Lea and Isa, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to meet other different people, too, and make friends with them. I like learning about you, so learning about other people should be just as fun, right?"  
  


He felt her fingers curl around his just a bit tighter.  
  


"That sounds like a great idea to me."  
  


He smiled at her, gently squeezing her hand back.  
  


A loud cry of protest cut through the gentle atmosphere that had fallen over the two of them, snapping their attention away from each other. They turned their heads in the direction of the commotion, finding themselves looking at the group they had seen when they first arrived.  
  


"Think we should go check it out?" Charlie asked, looking back at Ven.  
  


He nodded, standing up and leading her over to where the group was gathered.  
  


Captain Justice took notice of them first. "Well, if it ain't the last kids Captain Justice saved. 'Fraid you'll have to get in line. I'm workin' on another catastrophe with these fellahs-- Huey, Dewey, and Louie, my good friends."  
  


With each name, a different duck hopped to attention, starting with the one donning red and ending with the one clad in green.  
  


"Now, I'd hardly call it a catastrophe." The mouse spoke up, looking worn out.  
  


"Yeah, all we were tryin' to do was make our own special recipe ice cream." Huey agreed.  
  


"And we had a little trouble." Dewey followed.  
  


"Come on, it's not really that big a deal." Louie finished.  
  


Captain Justice was hearing none of it.  
  


"I'm 100% positive you're the victims of sabotage!"  
  


Dewey stomped his webbed feet. "Not even close! Quit makin' stuff up!"  
  


Louie turned around to look at the machine behind them. "It's just the ice cream machine!"  
  


"Unca Scrooge left it for us, but we can't figure out how it works 'cause it's so complicated." Huey shook his head.  
  


"Aw, we're sorry, Queen Minnie. We wanted you to be the first to try our special recipe ice cream." Dewey said, disheartened.  
  


Queen Minnie turned to soothe the boys. "Oh boys, it was very sweet of you to think of me."  
  


Louie lowered his head. "We tried."  
  


"Say no more. Leave it to me-- one bowl of ice cream comin' right up!" Captain Justice puffed out his chest.  
  


Dewey, however, hopped in anger. "You're just gonna make a mess! Leave it alone, Pete!"  
  


Ven and Charlie looked at each other, looking skeptical.  
  


Captain Justice was really named Pete?  
  


Whoever he really was, the slip of the name upset him. "That's Captain Justice!"  
  


Ven watched the masked vigilante approach the machine with a huff, causing him to step back and gently pull Charlie back with him.  
  


He wondered what his temper would lead him to do.  
  


He didn't have to wait long to find out.  
  


"This machine is busted! It just needs a good poundin'." Captain Justice lifted a fist before bringing it down on the machine repeatedly, knocking the entire contraption back and forth.  
  


The Queen was also losing her patience. "It does not!"  
  


Ven shook his head, letting go of Charlie's hand as he took a step forward.  
  


"Hey, do you think we could give it a shot?"  
  


Captain Justice looked over his shoulder at him. "No, if Captain Justice can't fix it, there ain't nothin' you can do, kid."  
  


Ven shrugged, stepping closer to the machine. "Maybe not, but there's no harm in trying." He said with a smile.  
  


Huey piped up in agreement. "Yeah, and better you than him." He walked towards Charlie, handing her a folded piece of paper. "Here ya go. These are the directions for the machine."  
  


She took it with a nod of her head. "Don't worry, I'm sure Ven and I will be able to figure it out." She assured him, unfolding the paper to take a look at the directions.  
  


Ven moved to stand beside her, taking a peek at it. "How confusing is it?" He asked.  
  


She shook her head as the group dispersed to let them work. "Not all that confusing, really. From the looks of it, you sit in that seat and use the keyboard keys to change the ice cream flavors." She tilted the paper so he could get a better look at it. "There's buttons on either side of you that let you turn it around, and right above those are buttons that let you fire. If he didn't completely knock it out of commission, it should be pretty simple to operate."  
  


He smiled, looking at her. "Do you want to try it out? You figured it out pretty quickly, and you have pretty good aim."  
  


She shook her head. "No, that's okay. I kind of want to see you try it out. Maybe then I'll take a turn." She said.  
  


He frowned. "You sure? I don't mind if you go first."  
  


She nodded. "Yeah. That way if it doesn't work I can blame it on you."  
  


He laughed. "Oh, okay, I see how it is." He turned to the machine, carefully climbing into the seat.  
  


His hands naturally fell on the keys, and he quickly saw the directional buttons she mentioned before. It really was as straightforward as she said.  
  


Then again, the triplets were a lot shorter than him, so that may have been part of the problem.  
  


He noticed that the barrel was aimed slightly in front of the stage, so he reached up to test out the directional buttons, jumping when he felt the entire seat move to the left.  
  


That was a promising sign  
  


He fiddled with the other buttons to move it where he wanted it, and once he was satisfied, he found the fire button and pushed it.  
  


He felt almost no recoil from the seat as it shot out a scoop of mint chocolate chip, splattering the stage.  
  


Louie squawked in surprise, scrambling to climb the stage. "You did it! You got it to work!" He said, moving offstage for a moment before coming back with an empty ice cream cone. "Do you think you can get it on this cone?"  
  


"Hey, I want some too!" Huey followed him onto the stage to grab his own cone.  
  


"Me too! Me too!"  
  


Ven chuckled. "Sure. I think I can do that."  
  


  
  


A few shots and even fewer close calls later, the boys finally had their fill of ice cream. The Queen was enjoying hers away from the stage and out of the line of fire of the machine, and by the looks on everyone's faces, it was a raging success.  
  


Ven grinned as he leaned back in the seat, glad they were able to help everyone out. They had mentioned Scrooge before, and it was clear the triplets were related to him.  
  


In a way, he felt like they were returning the favor for the tickets.  
  


"Good job, Ven. They look pretty happy."  
  


Ven turned to look at Charlie, who had set down the instructions on the stage before making her way over to him.  
  


A thought occurred to him.  
  


"Do you like ice cream?"  
  


She looked confused for a moment before nodding.  
  


"Yeah, I do. Honestly, I've got a pretty big sweet tooth." She admitted. "Why do you ask?"  
  


"Well, you didn't get any. Did you want some?"  
  


She tilted her head in thought. "You know, I might just take one for the road."  
  


He perked up. "Okay. What flavor do you like?"  
  


She chuckled. "I'm a huge fan of anything chocolate." She said. "I'll go grab a cone real quick and--"  
  


Before she could turn towards the stage or finish her sentence, Ven quickly hit the proper key and whirled the machine to face her before firing, hitting her square in the chest.  
  


The world stood still as she took a step back to keep her balance, her eyes wide with shock as she attempted to process what just happened.  
  


He grinned at her. "Whoops. Guess it doesn't work as well as I thought. You can blame me for that, though, right?"  
  


She blinked once, twice, and a third time before her eyes darted to look at him. He could see the wheels turning in her head as she slowly came to her senses. She reached up to wipe some of the splatter off her neck, looking at the brown staining her glove as she continued to think.  
  


When her eyes landed on him again, Ven felt a shift in the air that made him uneasy.  
  


For what felt like an eternity, she didn't move, but then she slowly lifted both her arms as she approached him.  
  


"Ven, I had so much fun today. I'd really like to thank you."  
  


It was a few steps later that he realized her plan.  
  


"No! No, you don't need to do that!" He slipped out of the machine, almost catching himself on one of the handles as he took a step back.  
  


"No, really, I want to. I want you to know how much I appreciate it."  
  


Every step she took towards him, he took two more backward.  
  


"It's fine, I get it."  
  


She tilted her head innocently at him. "Aren't we friends? Come on, it's the least I can do."  
  


He almost tripped over himself when he turned around to break into a run.  
  


"Hey, come back!"  
  


She was unable to hold back her laughter as she chased after him.


	15. Count On Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian seeks advice on a new problem he's never faced before.

Varian awoke the next morning and pulled his pillow over his face, unable to decide whether he wanted to scream into it or just smother himself completely.  
  


His father was right.  
  


He liked Charlie.  
  


Once Quirin planted the idea of a crush in Varian's head, his ability to focus on his work went right out the window. Every time he would force his attention back to the task in front of him, his eyes would betray him by drifting to the picture of her on his desk. At first, he would write it off as being unable to shake the conversation from his mind, but as the hours passed, his thinking drifted to what it would be like if she was actually there with him.  
  


Safe to say, nothing got done.  
  


He'd retired for the day with nothing but denial, and he hoped the morning would bring him certainty.  
  


That certainty came in the form of jealousy.  
  


He watched Ven tug Charlie around a giant playground, playing games with her, having meals with her, and telling her how important he was to her.  
  


He'd said it all under the guise of friendship, but if Varian could develop feelings from just watching her, who was to say Ven wasn't having some of his own while traveling with her?  
  


He kept holding her hand.  
  


It was obvious.  
  


Varian released a heavy sigh before pulling the pillow off his face. Physically, he was fine, but he felt mentally drained.  
  


He wasn't going to be able to get anything done today.  
  


He opened his eyes, staring at his ceiling as he tried to urge himself to come up with an alternative to distract himself with.  
  


He never had this problem before, so he had never needed anything to fall back on.  
  


He could use some advice.  
  


Not his father's, though.  
  


Who could he talk to?  
  


  
  


He couldn't believe he was actually considering doing this.  
  


After some serious thinking, there was only one name that came to mind that he could remotely trust with this kind of conversation. There weren't a lot of people who would even spare him a glance, much less listen to his problems.  
  


Not that he was having a problem.  
  


Charlie wasn't a problem.  
  


Rather, she was a problem he didn't mind having.  
  


He stood a few paces away from his favorite stall in the marketplace, second-guessing his decision.  
  


He liked Marco, truly. He was a trustworthy man and was the last person who would dismiss Varian or make fun of him.  
  


But he could be a bit… excitable.  
  


Varian let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and took a step up to the stall.  
  


The market wasn't busy, so it took no time at all for Marco to spot him.  
  


"Varian! It's great to see you. You're looking like your old self."  
  


Varian winced.  
  


His father hadn't been the only person who had noticed his lack of sleep. Marco had picked up on it fairly quickly and asked him how he was feeling every time he dropped by the stall. Varian kept quiet about the true reason behind it, of course, but assured him he was doing fine.  
  


"Yeah, Dad said the same thing. I managed to get some real sleep, so I'm feeling a lot better." He smiled.  
  


"That's great news! Camilla and I have been really worried about you. I know you said you were fine, but I just felt like something was up. I'm glad you're feeling better."  
  


Varian was surprised for a brief moment.  
  


He knew Marco didn't  _ hate _ him, but he was surprised he thought about him outside of work or spoke to Camilla about him.  
  


"Yeah, I-I feel great. Well… kind of. I mean, I'm not exhausted anymore." He fumbled, smoothing out his apron awkwardly.  
  


He wasn't planning on doing any work today, but he felt exposed without it.  
  


"Oh? Has something else got you down?" Marco asked, wiping his hands on a towel before dropping it somewhere under the counter. "Do you want to talk about it?"  
  


Varian inhaled through his nose, steadying his nerves before letting it out slowly.  
  


"I couldn't get any work done yesterday. I was really distracted. And I don't think I'm going to have any luck today, either. I was wondering if you had any advice on how to fix it."  
  


Maybe Varian would get lucky and he wouldn't have to go into detail about what was on his mind. Maybe Marco would be kind and spare him by offering him a solution without too many questions.  
  


"Well, usually when I'm distracted, it's because I'm busy worrying about something else. Is there something on your mind?"  
  


Maybe the ground would open up and swallow Varian where he was standing.  
  


He shrank, his eyes no longer meeting Marco's. He kicked at the ground at his feet awkwardly, hesitating.  
  


"Yeah. There is."  
  


Marco raised an eyebrow at him curiously.  
  


"Do you want to tell me what it is?"  
  


Varian rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.  
  


"There's this… well, there's this girl that I've been--"  
  


Varian jumped when Marco slammed both open palms down on the counter in front of him, almost knocking down a few bottles in the process.  
  


He didn't seem the least bit concerned as he leaned forward with wide, eager eyes.  
  


"Has the day finally come, Varian?"  
  


He should have just asked his dad.  
  


Varian coughed, looking away again. He could feel Marco's intense gaze burning a hole in the side of his head, making him feel all the more uncomfortable.  
  


"I-I think so."  
  


Marco laughed, frightening Varian when he leaned even farther forward to grab him by the shoulders and jostle him excitedly.  
  


"I can't believe it! Congratulations, Varian, this is wonderful!" He cheered, drawing the attention of some villagers passing by.  
  


"You-You don't even know what I was going to say!" Varian protested, feeling dizzy from being manhandled so suddenly.  
  


"I can tell by the look on your face! You already told me what I needed to know." Marco let him go, planting his hands on the counter again. "Is that what's had you so worn out? How long have you known her? What's her name? Where's she from? Have you told her yet?"  
  


Varian could barely keep up with all the questions, reaching up and adjusting the goggles resting on top of his head.  
  


He didn't want to have to replace those right now.  
  


"Her name is Charlie and she doesn't know I exist." He said, shaking his head.  
  


"Oh, I doubt that very seriously, Varian. You're a smart kid, and you've got a good attitude about you. I bet she's noticed you."  
  


Varian shook his head. "No, really, she has no idea who I am."  
  


Marco clapped Varian's shoulder. "Varian, you shouldn't put yourself down. Trust me when I say I think she'd like you."  
  


Varian highly doubted it, but he didn't want to argue with him about it.  
  


"Did you want help on how to tell her how you feel?"  
  


Varian blanched at the suggestion.  
  


"No! No, that's not what I wanted to ask about." He waved his hands defensively.  
  


Even if she were real, he knew he definitely wouldn't have the courage to do something like that.  
  


"Oh! Well, then what kind of help were you looking for?" Marco smiled with that same old endearing twinkle in his eye as he removed his hand from his shoulder.  
  


Varian cleared his throat.  
  


"I wanted to know if you had any idea on how to stop being distracted by… you know."  
  


Marco chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, good luck with that, buddy. Especially if it's a first crush, you might find it a little hard to get off your mind at the beginning. I'd say try to dive into a hobby, but your work  _ is _ your hobby in this case, so that's not going to do you much good."  
  


Varian visibly wilted.  
  


"So I should just… try to wait it out?" He asked. He'd been expecting a more hopeful answer, an easy fix.  
  


Of course this wouldn't be simple.  
  


"Well, that depends. Are you trying to get over her?"  
  


Varian paused.  
  


Is that what he was looking for?  
  


When the dreams first started, he'd written them off as nothing out of the ordinary. It didn't matter how vivid or detailed they were, they'd just been dreams. Once he stopped having them, he felt constant anxiety over the predicament she'd landed herself in, to the point that he had considered the water tank project secondary to getting back a piece of metal he managed to find by chance. It had made him superstitious because even now, he still had no actual proof that it had any relation to his dreams. It was simply a gut feeling.  
  


For five months, it got in the way of his health.  
  


All over someone who wasn't real.  
  


"No. That's not what I want."  
  


He didn't care.  
  


Marco smiled at him fondly, shaking his head. "Then I wouldn't treat it like a burden. There's no harm in a little daydreaming here and there. If you're not trying to move on, then don't try to ignore it. Enjoy the way she makes you feel. Take a break. Your projects will be there when you come back."  
  


Varian mulled over Marco's words.  
  


The way she made him feel…  
  


It might be a good idea to figure out what exactly those feelings were.  
  


"Okay. That sounds like a good place to start."  
  


Marco grinned. "I can help with that, too! You should tell me about her. What she's like, and what you like about her."  
  


Varian chuckled nervously.  
  


"I uh… I guess I could try."  
  


  
  


Varian had completely lost track of time, and by the time he had finished his conversation with Marco, it was well past noon. He felt guilty taking so much of the man's time, but he assured Varian that he was happy to spend the time to talk to him. He also thanked Varian for confiding in him and asking for his advice and sent him off with "good luck" with his newfound infatuation.  
  


Maybe Marco had been the right choice after all.  
  


Varian's mind definitely felt clearer than when he left the house and felt a spring in his step as he headed back through his front door after quickly greeting his father who was working in the fields. He closed the door behind him, resting his back against it with a smile.  
  


He still hadn't explained the entire situation to Marco, about Charlie not actually being real, so when he started offering advice on approaching her Varian felt some unease about his decision to indulge in his good feelings. But the more advice he was offered, the better he felt about the situation.  
  


For now, his attention was on Charlie, but that didn't mean it would always be that way. And he could use that advice for a girl who actually spared him a second thought.  
  


There weren't many kids in the village his age, and those that were weren't exactly his biggest fans.  
  


But that was going to change. He could feel it.  
  


He pushed himself off the door to head to his lab, deciding to take another crack at the heating compound for his tanks.   
  


Thanks to Marco, he could think straight again.


End file.
